One thing I found helpful for speculating about Hollywood in particular was to think of what “role” at the event various houses have played. Just using the past two years as an example, potential categories include:
Classic Slasher: Chucky Ultimate Kill Count / Texas Chainsaw Massacre The Legacy of Leatherface
Family Friendly IP: Stranger Things 4 / Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Post-Apocalyptic: The Last of Us / A Quiet Place
Universal Monsters: Monsters Unmasked / Eternal Bloodlines
Supernatural Horror: The Exorcist Believer / Insidious The Further
Zombies/Undead: Evil Dead Rise / Dead Exposure Death Valley
Latin American Original: Monstruous / Monstruous 2
Quirky Wild Card: Holidayz in Hell / The Weeknd Nightmare Trilogy
I personally think there is good reason to expect that they may not do Universal Monsters again this year, given the opening of Epic Universe and Universal Horror Unleashed (and, to a lesser extent, the reaction to Eternal Bloodlines). Would love to have a Creature from the Black Lagoon house, don’t get me wrong, but I’m going to guess that this year, anyway, the Universal Monster IP slot will be replaced by Blumhouse (which is rapidly becoming equivalent to Universal’s second in-house IP).
With all that said, some predictions, most of which are recycled from people who have commented and are savvier than me:
Classic Slasher: Friday the 13th. Feels like Jason is overdue, and like everyone is saying, there is a push to market Jason with the Jason Universe, etc. Terrifier is a possibility given that the franchise is much more mainstream after the success of Terrifier 3, but Jason feels more broadly popular than Art, and easier to pull off without tons of gore and controversy, so I’d bet on Jason. (As a slasher fan, if we got both, awesome).
Family Friendly IP: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice is hot again after the success of the sequel, and it feels like it could really fulfill the same zany fun as Ghostbusters. I think people are on to something. Possibility of getting Stranger Things 5, though the season four house came one year after the season was released, so I think more likely we get that down the road. (I think Netflix would pick Universal over Six Flags if they had the choice.)
Post-Apocalyptic: The Last of Us 2. I am sold on people suggesting that—seems like Universal and Naughty Dog had a strong first collaboration, the first house was very popular, etc. Feels like an easy win for Universal.
Universal Monsters/Blumhouse: The Horrors of Blumhouse with M3GAN and The Black Phone. Both are getting sequels, M3GAN and the Grabber are the most popular of the Blumhouse characters (more for sure, I’d say, than Babyface from Happy Death Day or the Butcher from Freaky, notwithstanding my fondness for Happy Death Day), etc.
Supernatural Horror: Silent Hill. The past two years have had pretty big IPs in this slot. If Beetlejuice, Jason, and Last of Us all make an appearance, there may be less need for as much of a household name. I personally think it is not super likely to get two video game houses, but there is some reason to think Silent Hill is possible, and it’s a bit of a wish pick—I remember hoping the no talking icon on spec maps was Silent Hill rather than A Quiet Place.
Zombies/Undead: I would guess another original like Dead Exposure: Death Valley (perhaps a reimagined version of an Orlando house again?), or it could be a wild card pick like Zombieland, etc.
Latin American Original: Monstruous 3 seems the likeliest. I personally loved both Monstruous and Monstruous 2—I’d be here for it.
Quirky Wild Card: A west coast version of Slaughter Sinema and Scary Tales both seem like really good guesses.
In terms of shows, I think The Purge: Dangerous Waters will probably be back (at risk of becoming the love it/hate it Nightmare Fuel of the west coast). For the other, maybe Universal Monsters will get a showing in the Dreamworks theater.