Blumhouse, Universal Win 'River' for $10M+ at TIFF — SkimNews
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- Blumhouse and Universal acquired Joshua Guiliano's thriller "River" from IFC for over $10 million at TIFF 2026, beating Sony's Monday-morning bid of $8 million after Focus, Paramount, A24, and Netflix had all passed by Saturday night.
- "River" premiered in TIFF's Midnight Madness section and stars Jane Levy and Jessica Rothe as three embittered siblings stranded on a country boat stalked by a faceless killer; the film holds an 83% fresh rating across 12 Rotten Tomatoes reviews.
- Blumhouse Atomic Monster's Sam Zimmerman previously worked with Giuliano during his Shudder tenure, and the studio — alongside Divide/Conquer and Spooky Pictures — inked Giuliano's next film "Occupant" just last week.
- Blumhouse's prior TIFF acquisition, "Obsession," was bought last year with Focus Features for $15 million and has since grossed over $513 million globally while positioning for awards season.
- IFC opted to sell despite a booming theatrical marketplace, with the source noting it is unusual for a distributor to give up a feature commodity at a moment when exhibitors are thriving.
Why it matters: Blumhouse paid roughly two-thirds the cost of "Obsession" for another genre gamble built on a director it already knows — and its prior TIFF buy returned a 34x multiple on $513 million in global box office. A standout genre package still commands nine-figure bidding even when broader deal flow at the market is sluggish.
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