Blumhouse Atomic Monster and Universal Buy TIFF Midnight Madness
Summary
A year after Obsession sold out of the same section, buyers paid eight figures for the slasher that opened this year's Midnight Madness program
IFC has sold Joshua Giuliano's River, the slasher that opened TIFF's 2026 Midnight Madness program, to Blumhouse Atomic Monster and Universal in a deal worth more than $10 million, Deadline reported. Blumhouse Atomic Monster pursued the film through the weekend. Sam Zimmerman, who leads indies at the genre studio, worked with Giuliano on River during his time at Shudder, and last week Blumhouse Atomic Monster, Divide/Conquer and Spooky Pictures signed on to Giuliano's next movie, Occupant. River held an 83 percent fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes from 12 reviews at the time of the sale. The deal comes a year after Focus Features bought Obsession out of the same section for $15 million. Blumhouse Atomic Monster later boarded Obsession as a producer, and the film has since grossed more than $513 million worldwide.