{
  "id": 11276876,
  "title": "TIFF Horror Hit ‘River’ Charts Course for January Release by Universal",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/01/tiff-horror-hit-river-charts-course-for-january-release-by-universal",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-01T20:20:47.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TheWrap",
    "slug": "thewrap",
    "url": "https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/river-tiff-horror-movie-release-date-universal/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Universal has announced that Blumhouse/Atomic Monster's Toronto International Film Festival acquisition \"River\" will have a January 15, 2027 release date. The film, written and directed by Joshua Giuliano, stars Jane Levy, Jessica Rothe, and Max Mittern as siblings on a boat trip to scatter their late father's ashes. When their boat engine fails and cell service is lost, they become stranded in the river while two mysterious figures observe them from shore. Acquired by Blumhouse-Atomic Monster and produced by IFC and Shudder, \"River\" received high praise at TIFF, garnering a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score. The movie is backed by Spooky Pictures' Steven Schneider, Eat the Cat's Nick Antosca and Alex Hedlund, and executive produced by Jeffrey Tinnell, Robert Tinnell, Matt Brodlie, and Jason Blum. While Blumhouse typically targets January for horror releases, as seen with the 2023 hit \"M3GAN,\" the studio's prior January effort, 2025's \"Wolf Man,\" only generated $34 million globally. Despite this, Blumhouse, in collaboration with Focus Features, experienced a major success at TIFF last year with \"Obsession,\" which amassed $519 million worldwide and became the highest-grossing original Hollywood release of the decade. Now, the studio aims for \"River\" to also achieve festival triumph. \"River\" will coincide with the release dates of Angel's Taika Waititi family comedy \"Fing!\", Paramount's African fantasy \"Children of Blood and Bone,\" and Amazon MGM's Jason Statham action sequel \"The Beekeeper 2.\"",
  "summary": "Blumhouse-Atomic Monster acquired Joshua Giuliano's film after its Midnight Madness section premiere in Toronto The post TIFF Horror Hit ‘River’ Charts Course for January Release by Universal appeared first on TheWrap .",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}