Netflix, AFM & Bill Skarsgård

Lionsgate and 3 Arts are launching Render Road, a horror banner that will develop, produce and finance projects across film, TV and digital; Luke Maxwell and Will Rowbotham will run it while staying at 3 Arts.

Season 2 of It: Welcome to Derry is greenlit and already mid-script, with Bill Skarsgård back as Pennywise and the story shifting to 1935's Bradley Gang massacre.

Rosamund Pike is set to star in and produce Feed, a body horror feature from Leslye Headland and Daniella Isaacs that’s launching sales at AFM. ZQ Entertainment financed development, with Magnolia, Spooky Pictures and Agile Films among the producing banners.

Letitia Wright boards supernatural horror In Her Shadow, with Bankside launching world sales at AFM and Rowan Athale directing from a pre-production package. Wright is also set to executive produce, with Tea Shop Films, Public Pictures and Bankside all on board.

Yellow Veil Pictures lands Callum Devlin’s New Zealand cannibal horror for an expanded U.S. rollout after its Letterboxd Video Store debut; winter release is now set.

Cappu Films has taken international sales on the African Kung-Fu Nazis franchise, covering both features and the companion documentary; the cult martial-arts splatter series is now being packaged for more territories and merchandise expansion.

Upgrade and After Hours take supernatural horror thriller Portrait to AFM after wrap; Robert Schwartzman directs from a Zac Stanford script, with Finn Wittrock and Supriya Ganesh leading the cast. The package also adds Whitmer Thomas, Este Haim and Andrew Divoff, positioning the film for international buyers off the back of completed production.

Sony’s Resident Evil reboot opened to $60M domestic, the biggest launch in the franchise’s 24-year run and well ahead of early tracking. Zach Cregger’s latest has already become a box-office breakout before the digital window even opens.

Sydney Sweeney, Nicholas Galitzine and Belmont Cameli are lining up Sony's gothic Sleepy Hollow reimagining Hollow; Lindsey Anderson Beer is directing from her own novel. The R-rated take shifts Washington Irving's story toward a supernatural, erotic-thriller angle and is targeting an early-next-year start.

Paul Bettany boards Netflix’s supernatural thriller Pagans opposite Steven Yeun; the series was ordered straight to series after a bidding war, with Joshua Zetumer running the show for Netflix.

Netflix has renewed Haunted Hotel for Season 3, preserving Matt Roller’s animated horror-comedy after the streamer’s long history of abrupt cancellations; the pickup lands as the series builds a larger organic audience.

Spokane-bound Hyena adds Kiernan Shipka, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Edgar Ramírez and Rosemarie DeWitt; Scott Coffey’s Lynch-produced psychological horror pic is set to start shooting early next year.

Florida shoot underway on Crocodile Smile as Trew Mullen boards Tyler Riggs’ short-based serial-killer thriller; Rob Cristiano is producing.

Lionsgate has greenlit the John Wick animated prequel, with Keanu Reeves returning to the franchise; Shannon Tindle directs and Ryan and Kaz Firpo wrote the script.

Shudder has taken all rights to Locarno-premiered supernatural horror Sundown in the US, UK and Australia/New Zealand; Raven Banner is taking Canadian sales to AFM with Summer H. Howell and Rebekah McKendry aboard.

Post-production is finished on All of Us Are Dead Season 2, with director JQ Lee now targeting a 2027 Netflix return. The zombie series remains one of Netflix's biggest Korean breakouts and is based on the webtoon Now at Our School.

Netflix launch pushed MGM+’s From to No. 1 on Nielsen with 1.65 billion minutes across 30 episodes; 40% of viewing came from Hispanic and Black audiences.

Concourse Media launches AFM sales on Taylor Cohen’s psychological thriller Strobe; Suzanna Son, Chace Crawford, Rohan Campbell, Laura Harrier, Mena Suvari and Grace Van Dien star. Happy Place financed the feature and Hiro Murai is among the producers as the film heads to buyers on Concourse’s expanding slate.

Godzilla Minus Zero is theatrical-only in the U.S. for now; GKIDS’ Max output deal keeps a future streaming window in play after digital, while Netflix remains a post-run possibility rather than a confirmed home.

Indonesia’s $352.9 million box office and local horror dominance make the genre the clearest bridge for Taiwanese producers chasing Southeast Asia’s biggest market. The study points to remake-friendly IP, horror-comedy crossover appeal and recent collaboration examples like The Rope Curse 4 as the path in.

Frankenstein’s Criterion cut adds an eight-minute opening-act expansion, including Victor killing his father; the theatrical version logged 29.1M Netflix views in its first three days.

Completed psychological home-invasion thriller has locked Quiver for North America and The Exchange for international sales ahead of AFM; Freddie Prinze Jr., Shelley Hennig, Sasha Pieterse and William Moseley star.

Toei has codified generative-AI rules and is already using the tech in film and video production, including background creation and budget estimation tools. The company also set 2027 launches for three original Toei Games titles and is pushing Kamen Rider harder overseas as it targets 50% of sales from outside Japan.

Entirely generative-AI sci-fi thriller The End has wrapped after Dumont built the film from his Paris home; no actors or traditional crew, with a 2027 festival rollout and theatrical release planned.

Peacock passes on Eli Roth's Hostel series; Roth and Chris Briggs already have scripts and are reworking the project, with Paul Giamatti still attached to star.

DC Studios taps Francis Galluppi to write a new Constantine movie for James Gunn's DCU; Reeves' long-delayed sequel is left in limbo as Warner Bros. develops a parallel take on the character.

Crystal Lake is still being mapped as a franchise play; the showrunner is already sketching a path to season 2 for the Friday the 13th prequel if the first season lands.

Rojo Sangre and Obscura have booked Dark Christmas ahead of AFM, with EuroObscura handling sales and the Finnish slasher set for a December theatrical bow at home.