American Film Market, David Howard Thornton & A24

CHF 93M bank loan due Nov. 30 puts Constantin’s ownership in play as parent Highlight posts a CHF 131.8M operating loss; the German mini-major is leaning harder on co-productions after Resident Evil’s $410M global run.

CAA signed ThatMob off the viral Minecraft horror series ‘Verity,’ which has cleared 81 million views across four official videos; the creator is already developing follow-up horror series ‘Mikey’s Magical Mayhem.’

California Pictures has boarded worldwide sales on Bengali gothic horror The Undying and is lining up AFM buyers for the completed Tagore adaptation. The AK Studios feature is already set to roll through EFM and Cannes Film Market next.

InTension Industries has launched The Million-Dollar Shortcut, a competition that will develop, produce, and release one emerging filmmaker’s horror or thriller short as a feature with a $1 million production budget. Entries open to U.S. shorts under 40 minutes; audience voting helps narrow the field before a 2027 winner is selected.

Blumhouse Atomic inks a first-look deal with James Tynion IV’s Tiny Onion as Exquisite Corpses moves into film and animation development; the Image Comics title has reportedly topped 1 million copies sold.

Crowdfunding-backed sequel Behind the Mask II: The Return of Leslie Vernon is shooting in Illinois; Robert Englund, Nathan Baesel and Angela Goethals return, with David Howard Thornton in a key role and Paper Street Pictures producing.

Dark Sky Films acquired U.S. distribution for Michael Gallagher’s Heaven’s Gate thriller The Leader, starring Vera Farmiga, Tim Blake Nelson and Jim Parsons; theatrical release is set for late March 2027, 30 years after the cult’s mass suicide.

Kane Parsons says his three new originals are interconnected, with Backrooms still in play for limited films or a multi-season TV expansion around A24's breakout horror brand.

Har’el and Christian Stangeby co-wrote the screenplay; Fifth Season and 193, a Legendary Company, produce with Linden Entertainment. Cameras roll in the Dominican Republic in 2027.

Angel Studios says its first pre-sales push on Rode To Ruin is drawing strong demand as the Michael Keaton-led western thriller rolls in New Mexico. The company has already locked multiple territories across Latin America, Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and Israel while keeping U.S. distribution tied to Angel Guild approval.

Cohen Media Group has closed U.S. rights on May el-Toukhy’s Venice Golden Lion winner Woman Unknown at AFM. TrustNordisk is handling international sales on the post-WWII period drama, which has already played Toronto, BFI London, Busan and other major festivals.

Playtime has boarded international sales on Carlota Pereda’s darkly comic crime thriller The Blondes, with Ester Expósito and Claudia Salas set to lead and a March 2027 shoot lined up. Morena Films is producing; Universal Pictures International Spain will handle the Spanish release as buyers are pitched the project at AFM.

Magnolia Pictures bought U.S. rights to Cannes Midnight title ‘Jim Queen’ and set a summer theatrical rollout for the English-language cut; Wolfie Trausch co-directs the version fronted by Jordan Firstman and executive produced by Moby.

Victorian Psycho is on the release trail with Maika Monroe in full villain mode, and Zachary Wigon says the gothic horror shoot benefited from genre leeway at Anton. Monroe also says the follow-up They Follow starts shooting in two months.

A24’s Elden Ring adaptation leads a noisy AFM slate with a reported $175M-$200M budget and Amazon MGM already pre-bought in. The market lineup also includes Carlota Pereda’s Found Alive, Ry Russo-Young’s body-horror Get Rid of It, Zack London’s AI sci-fi horror Gods Don’t Give Gifts, and Vera Farmiga’s supernatural Inferno.

MPA slapped Robert Eggers’ medieval werewolf pic with an R for bloody violence, gore, sexual assault and graphic nudity; Focus Features keeps the Christmas Day 2026 theatrical launch.

Mega Distributions is taking 8x60' crime thriller Collision to international buyers while landing fresh CEE sales across its scripted slate; the series comes from Silent Road duo Melina Tsampani and Petros Kalkovalis and stars Dimitris Kapouranis, Eliza Skolidi, Maria Nafpliotou and Nikos Psarras.

AFM buyers are circling Adam Rehmeier’s Seeker, starring Cooper Tomlinson and Jessica Rothe; A24 is touting Ramy Youssef’s Martha & Muhammad and Alex Garland’s Elden Ring, while FilmNation/UTA shop Iannucci’s Propaganda and Upgrade’s Get Rid Of It.

Script is close to done on Terrifier 4, with Damien Leone eyeing spring pre-production and no release date set yet; David Howard Thornton says Art remains pure evil and wants the sequel to close the saga.

Rights fight clears the way for Just Before Dawn’s first 4K treatment; another cult slasher gets premium home-video life. Catalog horror keeps finding new value in restored UHD reissues.

Francis Lawrence says DC's prior regime was the blocker on Constantine 2 and is now pushing for another shot at the Keanu Reeves sequel. Akiva Goldsman has a script in hand, with the project still alive but far from greenlit.

IFFR’s 2027 edition will feature Analog Nightmares 2.0, with world premieres of Joshua Garity’s The Space Between and Midwest Angelica: Landfall, plus La Mancha, Dance Freak and Smile Guide; Jordan Strafer and Kalle Boman also receive focuses.

Peacock has dropped the Hostel TV adaptation, leaving the long-gestating horror series without a home. The move shuts down momentum on the IP play after years in development.

A leaked May 2026 draft frames Ari Aster's Scapegoat as a gory political nightmare, with Scarlett Johansson as a neurosurgeon pulled into a doxxing spiral after a far-right influencer dies on her table. The script points to a major ensemble puzzle around Jude Law and Ella Purnell while Aster pushes deeper into apocalyptic satire.

Joel McHale, Jade Pettyjohn and George Lopez will star in killer guard-dog thriller Junkyard, with McHale as a corrupt sheriff; Dan Riesser directs from a co-written script, with Atlanta production set for spring 2027.

Don Mancini has signed with Independent Artist Group and is developing the next Chucky movie, nearly a decade after 2017’s Cult of Chucky; he is also planning original film and television projects.

Six half-hour episodes of Ted Raimi’s horror-comedy talk show were ordered; Your Dearest, Darkest Friend premiered Oct. 30 on Screambox with Barbara Crampton in the second episode and weekly drops behind it.

Warner Bros.' Clockwork is backing Park Chan-wook's The Brigands of Rattlecreek on a reported $60M budget, with Matthew McConaughey, Pedro Pascal, Austin Butler, Tang Wei and Adèle Exarchopoulos attached. Park is targeting an early-next-year start after reworking S. Craig Zahler's script.

The Mummy: Book of the Dead is the officially titled fourth film in the Brendan Fraser-led action-horror franchise. Arnold Vosloo confirms his return alongside Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Kevin J. O’Connor and Oded Fehr.