‘River': Horror Movie Sells to Universal and Blumhouse for $10M+ TIFF 2026’s First Big Deal

The first big sale out of TIFF, and it confirms the slow pace of business out of this year's fest.

Still no distributor for titles like "Bucking Fastard," "Alpha Gang," "The Last Photograph," "Closing Night," and "The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd." The main issue seems to be quality more than a lack of willingness to buy.

That said, Joshua Guiliano's "River," which screened in the Midnight Madness section — the same sidebar as last year's "Obsession" — didn't draw reviews as glowing as that film's. Nevertheless, genre cinema is hot right now, and it's been acquired for eight figures.

The story goes that everyone believed Sony was going to get "River" by Monday morning with an $8M bid. Focus, Paramount, A24 and Netflix had all passed by Saturday night — they thought the price was too high. This morning, Sony was out, and Jason Blum, along with Universal, ultimately won, taking the film for more than $10M.

What's most interesting about this acquisition is that "River" came into TIFF with a distributor already attached, but IFC decided to give it up in a bidding auction. The film follows three siblings stranded on a country boat who are stalked by a faceless killer — Jane Levy and Jessica Rothe star.

Last year, Blumhouse, with Focus Features, acquired "Obsession" out of TIFF for $15M. That turned into a massive hit with more than $513M. I doubt it'll happen for "River," which currently sits at 83% on Rotten Tomatoes but with most reviews in the 3/5, B/B- range.

Midnight Madness just hasn't been as strong this year as it was in 2025, which is when "Obsession," "The Furious," "Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie," and "Dust Bunny" premiered. This year has been rough, but tonight I'll be attending the buzzy world premiere of "Kick On," a bloody Australian mob movie — and maybe that'll be the MM breakout we've all been waiting for.