Horror Industry News — Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Lily James boards Amazon MGM’s horror-thriller Seasons as a ranch buyer trapped by ancient spirits; Drew Hancock directs from the viral Matt and Harrison Query story, with 21 Laps and Blumhouse Atomic Monster producing.

Roughly $75 million from Google lands at A24 in a non-exclusive DeepMind research pact; Google gets its first direct film-studio stake while A24 keeps control and opens an AI test bed for storyboarding, marketing and distribution.

Paramount Animation is developing Yehudi Mercado’s Freddy the 13th as a PG-rated animated horror-comedy with Dan Trachtenberg directing and producing via Ben Rosenblatt. The project was unveiled at Annecy as part of Jennifer Dodge’s expanding animation slate.

Kevin Bacon boards Amazon MGM’s theatrical horror feature Summoner as Jefferson Haddock; Jeremy Slater makes his directing debut, with the Muschiettis producing and a fall shoot set.

Google is putting about $75 million into A24 as part of a multiyear DeepMind R&D pact; the nonexclusive deal keeps A24’s library off the table while the studio helps shape AI tools for production, editing and distribution.

Raindance pairs with Catherine Corcoran to launch a new horror initiative, using the Terrifier performer to anchor festival-side support for indie genre projects.

A new World War Z sequel is back in development, reviving the zombie franchise after years of dormancy; the project reopens one of the biggest genre IPs left on the shelf.

James ‘Murr’ Murray’s prehistoric spider horror Don’t Move locks a September theatrical launch, marking a creature-feature pivot from the Impractical Jokers star.

Ernest Dickerson boards Fangoria’s Black Diamond, pushing the horror comic adaptation forward with a veteran genre director. The project keeps Fangoria in the adaptation lane as it builds out another IP-backed feature.

Netflix and Toho unite on Human Vapor, an eight-episode sci-fi crime thriller launching July 2 as the first collaboration between the streamer and the Godzilla studio.

Harlan Coben’s latest Netflix thriller is topping the streamer’s global rankings, reinforcing Coben as one of Netflix’s most reliable international genre engines. The result is another data point for Netflix’s chase for durable, globally exportable thrillers.

Sky’s five-part Jamaica/Bristol limited series pairs Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jonny Lee Miller and Sheldon Shepherd on an inheritance case that turns to plantation-haunted dread; NBC is handling international sales.

Shudder stacks July with originals Faces of Death, Saccharine, Exit 8 and Touch Me, plus a new Joe Bob Briggs special; the slate mixes horror, supernatural, and game-adaptation titles across the U.S., Canada, and U.K. windows.

Richard Kelly’s cult sci-fi thriller finally got its first Mexican theatrical run, turning a 25-year-old catalog title into a local box-office play; the Latin America rollout underscores how dormant genre IP can still be monetized internationally.

Rooh is set for a 2027 theatrical launch in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, giving Emraan Hashmi another horror headline while Mayank Sharma turns his Breathe pedigree toward a musical-horror feature for the big screen.

“Obsession” added $13.3 million domestically in its sixth frame, lifting its North America total to $215 million and global cume to $332.4 million; Focus Features’ sub-$1 million buy for the Curry Barker breakout is shaping into one of the year’s most profitable horror bets.

Warner Bros. has snapped up Exposure, a psychosexual thriller based on a short story by Erika Vázquez and Siena Butterfield; the writers are also scripting the feature. Barbara and Andy Muschietti are producing under Double Dream.

A24 picks up and finances Panos Cosmatos’ vampire thriller Flesh of the Gods as production wraps in Spain; Wagner Moura replaces Oscar Isaac, with Kristen Stewart still onboard.

Sony screened the first 18 minutes of Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil at CineEurope, positioning the game adaptation as a clean franchise reset; the slate presentation also teased Insidious: Out of the Further with completed footage.

Netflix sets Aug. 28 for the global launch of Danish thriller The Secret Woman; Barbara Topsøe-Rothenborg directs the SF Studios Denmark adaptation of Anna Ekberg’s novel, starring Natalie Madueño, Claes Bang and Pål Sverre Hagen.

Peter Sarsgaard boards HBO’s “The Last of Us” Season 3 as Amon, a Seraphites leader, while the Vancouver shoot resumes June 28 after a World Cup-related hiatus. The casting update knocks down cancellation chatter and points to an early 2027 debut window.

Annecy premiere is turning positive for Rogue Trooper; Duncan Jones cut the 2000 AD adaptation to a $10 million to $20 million indie budget via Unreal Engine 5, but U.S. distribution is still open.

Hybrid AI production on Heaven is moving ahead with Alex Proyas casting in Sydney and using Ex Machina Studios’ proprietary tools to shrink a sci-fi shoot that he says would cost $100 million through traditional methods.

James Wan boards the new RoboCop TV series as executive producer and key-episode director, with filming eyed for January. The franchise is moving deeper into dystopian sci-fi TV with a watched genre filmmaker attached.

Warner Bros. Clockwork lines up a fall global theatrical rollout for Ken Russell’s The Devils restoration; the long-shelved horror title returns to cinemas more than 50 years after its original release.

$25,000 publishing deal on the table as The Black List and Zando launch the Evil Twin Manuscript Initiative to find an unpublished or self-published horror novel. The contest is explicitly scouting supernatural, gothic, psychological and horror-adjacent crossover material.

Kojima says OD is pushing past anything he’s made before; the Xbox horror game still hides its core system, with Jordan Peele co-developing and Sophia Lillis, Hunter Schafer, and Udo Kier in the cast.

Todd Howard says Arkane showed him fresh Marvel’s Blade material this week; Bethesda and Marvel Games keep the Paris-set vampire title moving in active development.