{"id":211678,"date":"2025-10-09T12:19:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T12:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/211678\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T12:19:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T12:19:25","slug":"jason-blum-on-blumhouses-horror-empire-freddy-krueger-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/211678\/","title":{"rendered":"Jason Blum on Blumhouse’s Horror Empire, Freddy Krueger and More"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJason Blum<\/a> plunges a shovel into some soft earth as two smiling murderers look on.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo his left is M3GAN, a homicidal AI doll who has spawned two movies. To his right is Babyface, a serial killer whose mask is the twisted likeness of a bucktoothed infant, star of \u201cHappy Death Day\u201d and its sequel. Blum tosses fresh dirt over his shoulder and continues to dig.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is not a scene from one of the low-budget horror films that Blumhouse<\/a>, his mold-breaking production company that marks its 15th anniversary this year, routinely churns out; it\u2019s part of a photo op on a late September day in Estes Park, Colorado, where Blum is breaking ground on an expansion of the Stanley Hotel, which inspired\u00a0Stephen King\u2019s 1977 novel \u201cThe Shining.\u201d Soon the resort will be the spooky setting of Blumhouse Space, a museum where Blum\u2019s company will showcase horror-movie artifacts. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tNot that Blum needs a museum to vouch for his place in Hollywood history. His low-budget slashers and supernatural chillers have sold more than $6 billion in tickets, making the company among the most profitable in the entertainment industry. Their titles are brands unto themselves: \u201cInsidious,\u201d \u201cThe Purge,\u201d \u201cParanormal Activity,\u201d \u201cFive Nights at Freddy\u2019s\u201d and \u201cThe Black Phone,\u201d for starters. Many of those movies are more popular with audiences than critics, but Blum has branched out. He produced the 2017 cultural juggernaut \u201cGet Out,\u201d scoring a best picture Oscar nomination, and has backed some arty left turns not suitable for Halloween, like \u201cWhiplash\u201d and \u201cBlacKkKlansman.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDan Doperalski for Variety<\/p>\n

\n\tBut this year has been a rough one for the hitmaker. In quick succession, Blumhouse released \u201cNight Swim,\u201d \u201cImaginary\u201d and \u201cM3GAN 2.0,\u201d only to see them flop at the box office. At the same time, horror movies from rival studios, such as \u201cWeapons\u201d and \u201cSinners,\u201d which were made by A-list auteurs like Zach Cregger and Ryan Coogler for tens of millions more than Blum typically spends, were zeitgeist-y smashes. It raises questions about whether Blum\u2019s model of cheap scares is in peril. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd Blum suffered another setback recently \u2014 he lost out on an auction for rights to reboot \u201cThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre,\u201d the 1974 classic about a group of teens who stumble on a family of Southern cannibals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe were in the mix. The deal isn\u2019t closed, but we probably won\u2019t get it,\u201d Blum says, looking defeated for a moment in his Koreatown office complex in Los Angeles. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tA24, the cool-kids indie film company, won the \u201cTexas Chainsaw Massacre\u201d bake-off with a creative team led by \u201cWeapons\u201d producer Roy Lee and Glen Powell. Mainly, Blum is bummed he won\u2019t have a chance to revitalize a franchise that had run out of gas. \u201cI like taking IP that people are cynical about and turning expectations on their head,\u201d he says. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYet Blum, 56, is ebullient even when confronting failure, gesticulating with his hands and feet (in matching Converse sneakers, each a different color). He can mourn Leatherface all he wants, but the walls of his office suite are decorated with many big kills.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cA studio is only as strong as its creative collaborators,\u201d Donna Langley, Chairman of Universal Entertainment, tells Variety. \u201cJason has always been cutting edge, and it\u2019s been remarkable to work alongside him more than a decade \u2014 now more than ever, to have partners with the foresight to innovate and the wisdom to evolve in the face of a changing industry landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blum\u2019s mantel will get even more crowded after the Producers Guild of America honors him with its prestigious Milestone Award this cycle, a prize that goes to someone who\u2019s made a historic impact on entertainment (previous winners include Steven Spielberg, Donna Langley and George Lucas). \u201cHorror\u2019s New Wave,\u201d a coffee-table book that surveys Blumhouse\u2019s film library, will hit the stands this month. And over the next few weeks, Blum will release the highly anticipated sequels to \u201cFive Nights at Freddy\u2019s\u201d and \u201cThe Black Phone,\u201d which should restore his commercial luster. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBut Blum isn\u2019t ready to rest. He\u2019s still in the trenches, mining film schools and social media to find new (and economical) directing talent and bringing fading horror figures back to life (Blumhouse recently closed a deal to reboot \u201cSaw\u201d). The company also expanded its scare factory, merging with Atomic Monster, the producer of \u201cThe Conjuring,\u201d in 2024. Blum says he\u2019s always been a \u201cbuilder.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI met him at a diner circa 1991,\u201d says Ethan Hawke, star of three major Blumhouse franchises, including \u201cThe Purge.\u201d Blum\u2019s footwear made an impression even in the early days.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe was dating an ex-girlfriend of mine and walking around New York City in flip-flops like a total weirdo,\u201d Hawke remembers. \u201cI asked him what he did for a living, and he said, \u2018I\u2019m a producer.\u2019 He was probably 21 years old. I met all these young people at the time who said they wanted to be famous actors or genius writers or big-shot directors. He was the first guy who said \u2018producer,\u2019 and he clearly wasn\u2019t \u2014 he was selling real estate or something \u2014 but I loved that about him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBlum has never lacked for confidence, but he\u2019s also candid about his mistakes. In a wide-ranging discussion tied to his company\u2019s anniversary, he opens up about his recent box office struggles, the challenges facing Hollywood and his next act. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tHorror has become so mainstream that people say it\u2019s oversaturated. What do you think? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThey\u2019re right. This year it was. Everyone pulled back, and next year it won\u2019t be. I\u2019ve been through that cycle now about three times: A few horror movies make money, then everyone makes horror movies and then they don\u2019t make money. Then everyone pulls back, and so it goes. No moderation. Hollywood is like Charlie Sheen. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tSo what\u2019s working? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIntellectual property and sequels. Something that\u2019s an experiential event. The biggest \u201cConjuring\u201d movie of all time opened from our sister company, Atomic Monster, a few weeks ago. People are going to the things that they know. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBut there is something really cool happening in horror right now, largely due to \u201cGet Out\u201d: When we started, horror was for weirdos; it was not for mainstream filmmakers. If you were the star directing student at NYU, you were making a movie for Sundance and you wanted Focus Features or Searchlight to buy it. Then you got in line for an Oscar and bigger dramatic movies. There were very few 20-year-olds aspiring to make horror movies. The opposite is now true. I credit Jordan Peele with this. The cool kids make horror movies now. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tYou got a lot of street cred this summer for openly talking about what went wrong with \u201cM3GAN 2.0,\u201d which failed to meet expectations.\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is probably true of all genres but specifically with horror today: In a post-COVID theatrical world, the hits are bigger and the bombs are bigger. The box office is still off 20% from where it was in 2019, which means fewer movies are getting a larger part of the pie. Also, I think because of current release windows, genre and original fare suffer the most. Yes, we\u2019ve had two original horror movies work big this year \u2014 \u201cSinners\u201d and \u201cWeapons\u201d \u2014 but only two movies broke through; you used to get six or seven. Now the market has to be perfect, and the movies have to be perfect. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tOver your entire career, what failure was your greatest lesson? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe two biggest failures that sting, that I think about every day, are \u201cJem and the Holograms\u201d and \u201cThe Hunt.\u201d Those should\u2019ve been hit movies. The great, exciting and horrible thing about the movie business is you can get everything right and still things don\u2019t work. I think Jon M. Chu got everything right on \u201cJem and the Holograms,\u201d and it didn\u2019t work. And \u201cThe Hunt\u201d got everything right, but fake news killed the movie. It broke my heart, because there was a false narrative that got attached to the movie that destroyed it. It was too bad, and it would\u2019ve been a huge hit and have been great for the culture. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\u201cThe Hunt\u201d was delayed in 2019 because of early reports that it was a battle movie pitting \u201cblue states\u201d against \u201cred states,\u201d which wasn\u2019t the case. Would that movie get greenlit today in our political climate? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, no one who reported on the movie saw it or read the script at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd would it get greenlit today? No idea. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tAfter the attacks on late-night hosts and the affiliate removal of Jimmy Kimmel, Hollywood is having a larger conversation about political censorship. How do you feel? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tPolitical censorship is bad. All free speech is good. But when you embrace free speech, it means you have to also embrace things you don\u2019t want to hear or don\u2019t like. Both sides are a little hypocritical about that. But free speech comes with feelings that can get hurt. Take the \u201cPurge\u201d series \u2014 those were incredibly political movies; some people were offended, and some people weren\u2019t. The debate is how we grow and learn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tAs father of M3GAN, what did you make of recent headlines about AI actress Tilly Norwood? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWhatever you feel about AI, it\u2019s here to stay. It\u2019s very important to use it ethically and legally, and for the studios and the guilds to protect the copyright of the artists. But if we in Hollywood stick our heads in the sand and don\u2019t use it at all, we\u2019re going to cede content creation to other people. The consumer does not care if what they\u2019re looking at is AI. We\u2019ve got to embrace it, but ethically and legally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tPeople say that Blumhouse\u2019s legacy will be its idea to pair small budgets with big studio marketing. What did you see that no one else did 15 years ago? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI thought the ideal thing would be to make movies independently and have them released by studios. No one was doing that at the time, and that\u2019s what \u201cParanormal Activity\u201d was. Then we came very fast out of the gate with \u201cInsidious,\u201d \u201cSinister\u201d and then \u201cThe Purge.\u201d All examples of super low-budget indie movies released by studios. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s still in the DNA of Hollywood that if you have success, you need to then make way more expensive movies. Whether you\u2019re a producer, an actor \u2014 especially if you\u2019re a director. You had a hit with a $5 million movie at Sundance? You should do a $20 million movie for Searchlight! That never made any sense to me. I\u2019ve made many mistakes in my career, but one thing I did right was not get tempted by this notion of making a more expensive movie after you had a huge hit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tHow did you avoid the temptation? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI didn\u2019t gravitate towards making a $60 million version of \u201cDracula\u201d after \u201cParanormal Activity\u201d \u2014 I made a $980,000 horror movie called \u201cInsidious.\u201d I was able to take all the benefits of low-budget filmmaking, which is just creative control. At Blumhouse, if you see a voice or a texture that runs through our movies, it\u2019s what our low budgets allow: louder voices from the directors. The edges of our movies are much less sanded down than the big-budget movies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe DPs, production designers and all the hardworking people who do craftwork around the movie won\u2019t like to hear this, but I fundamentally believe that you can have a movie that doesn\u2019t look good, isn\u2019t lit well, but if the audience is really into the characters and what they\u2019re saying, the movie can work. You could have the greatest-looking everything, but if the audience is not into what the actors are saying to each other, the movie doesn\u2019t work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tYou\u2019ve never wanted to step up and direct a horror movie? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI couldn\u2019t. I couldn\u2019t focus on one thing that long. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tHow has the wave of Hollywood mergers and acquisitions affected Blumhouse? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI talk all the time about the larger media business, and it definitely trickles down to us, but it\u2019s out of our control. I mean, my view on it is that we\u2019re not really consolidating; it\u2019s just become a different set of players. There were seven studios, and now it\u2019s four studios with three tech companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe more relevant thing \u2014 which I think about a lot \u2014 is, are people going to watch less TV and fewer movies and move more towards YouTube and TikTok? But there\u2019s nothing you can do about it. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tIs Blumhouse for sale? I\u2019ve been hearing it is for three years. \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tBlumhouse is not for sale. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tYou\u2019re sure? There\u2019s no sales deck circulating? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI can tell you with great certainty there is no deck, no banker hired. The biggest thing we\u2019ve ever done in 15 years is merged with Atomic Monster. That\u2019s been our biggest transaction, and I\u2019m happy with how it\u2019s going. Atomic Monster is incredibly well suited to the IP event business that really represents modern studio horror. I don\u2019t think any company is better positioned today. The average Atomic Monster movie has made about $260 million worldwide. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tYou\u2019ve mentioned that shorter theatrical release windows are hurting horror. Why? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI have to start by saying I was a big proponent of day and date. I think I was very wrong. It was not good for the business. I learned the hard way, and I would prefer that the windows were at least consistent, because it\u2019s very difficult for the consumer. I would love to see films [exclusively in theaters] for 30 days or something like that across the industry. But I\u2019m so far away from that decision; I have very little impact on it. I have nothing to do with it. But I think windows are very important to protect the theatrical experience. And it\u2019s worth protecting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDan Doperalski for Variety<\/p>\n

\t\tYou just got the rights to the \u201cSaw\u201d franchise. What is the creative vision there? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s really hard to make 10 movies in a franchise \u2014 I don\u2019t take that away from the original series\u2019 producers. And I\u2019m grateful to them for allowing us to continue. My creative outlook is what I always preach: Get the people who made the magic in the first place more involved. James Wan [the original director] will be hugely involved. That\u2019s how we\u2019re going to reinvent it. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tAre you done with \u201cHalloween\u201d? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWe don\u2019t own the rights anymore. I had a three-picture deal. But I would do another \u201cHallo\u00ad\u00adw\u00adeen\u201d movie. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat\u2019s been your experience in the TV space?\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWe\u2019ve been in it for about 10 years. We\u2019ve done \u201cSharp Objects,\u201d \u201cThe Jinx,\u201d \u201cThe Normal Heart.\u201d We won two Emmys.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tYou\u2019re also producing Richard Linklater\u2019s \u201cMerrily We Roll Along.\u201d He\u2019s filming that over 20 years with the same cast. A Sondheim musical is a pivot for Blumhouse. \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a real pivot. We\u2019re in it for 20 years. We\u2019ve been doing it for five; we\u2019ve only got 15 left. It\u2019s right around the corner. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tHow does one even budget a film like that? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tMagical thinking. We have a budget: Universal is funding the movie. The budget is just a guess. But the credit for that movie falls squarely in two places: first, Rick. It\u2019s so fucking cool what he and the creative group are doing. But you have to give it to Universal \u2014 no financier would ever do that. Jimmy Horowitz loves musicals \u2014 we produced \u201cDeath Becomes Her\u201d together. They really took a flier on this thing, and I believe it will pay off for all involved. It\u2019s very unusual. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tWhere did the name Blumhouse come from? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI used to play basketball at Chelsea Piers with Ethan Hawke and my old friend Frank Whaley. I was a terrible basketball player and still am, and Frank called me Blumhouse. It stopped being a joke when we incorporated in 2009 and used that name for the company. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019d always dreamed of being a producer of studio movies. I finally got to do that in 1999, which was \u201cTooth Fairy\u201d with Dwayne Johnson. It\u2019s the only movie I\u2019ve ever really produced for a studio. All the things I thought would be great about producing a studio movie were horrible, but the distribution process was greater than I could ever imagine. We walked into Fox, and there were 150 people in a distribution meeting. They all had crazy-specific jobs \u2014 there was a person in charge of promotions at car dealerships.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat is your white whale in the genre space \u2014 the movie you\u2019d kill to make? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFriday the 13th\u201d and Freddy Krueger, those are my two white whales. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tAnd they\u2019re both locked up somewhere else? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWe\u2019re always haggling. I make a run at them every day. I will never give up the quest. And if they make one without me, I\u2019ll chase the next movie. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tAnd what about M3GAN? Is she done? \u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tM3GAN will ride again. I\u2019ll find a way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDan Doperalski for Variety<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jason Blum plunges a shovel into some soft earth as two smiling murderers look on. To his left…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[21833,88,82569,206],"class_list":{"0":"post-211678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-blumhouse","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-jason-blum","11":"tag-movies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}