Jason Blum on the Reaction to Prospective Blumhouse and Atomic Monster Merger: ‘The Fans Went Crazy’

Angelique Jackson
·5 min read
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Blumhouse founder Jason Blum and his fellow horror maestro James Wan (the vision behind Atomic Monster) were the talk of the town on Wednesday when news broke that they were in advance talks to merge their production companies.

So when the duo had a quick run-in on the red carpet at the Beverly Hilton on Thursday night for the 36th annual American Cinematheque awards, where Blum and Blumhouse were set to be honored with the Power of Cinema Award (and Ryan Reynolds the marquee honor), there was much hubbub to be had.

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“The industry reaction to our hopeful future together was really everything I hoped for,” Blum told Variety after saying hello to Wan. “And most importantly, the fans went crazy.”

“That was really what I wanted, most of all,” the power producer continued. “But the industry was excited; the directors that we work with were excited; the company, our staff was excited, so it was everything that I’d hoped.”

If the deal goes through, as first reported in the New York Times, Blum and Wan will formally combine their horror empires, bringing such franchises as “Halloween,” “Paranormal Activity” and “The Purge” (for Blumhouse) and “The Conjuring” and “Saw” franchises (for Wan and Atomic Monster) under one roof.

The companies have already collaborated on the “Insidious” franchise and the upcoming film “M3gan,” a thriller about an artificial intelligence doll, which immediately went viral online. Universal is releasing the film on Jan. 6, 2023.

Blumhouse is currently under a first look deal with Universal, which would extend to Atomic Monster assuming that the deal closes. Wan’s first-look deal with Warner Bros. ended earlier this year after nearly a decade.

Blum is hopeful that the formal alliance will afford the companies the opportunity to expand their output exponentially.

“The destination that I’m really hoping for is that we’re making a few more theatrical movies a year,” Blum explained. “Instead of two or three, we’re making five or six.”

He added: “But more importantly than more, is that they’re better and great. I think he and I, in the past, have worked incredibly well together at not just making movies, but making great, scary, classic movies. So that’s my hope in the future.”

Before accepting the special honor, presented by Hill Valley, on behalf of the company, Blum explained how he defines the “power of cinema.”

“Stories are able to change our views about things and open our minds to things and give us experiences we haven’t necessarily had, hopefully make us more empathetic, more understanding of other people’s positions,” Blum said. “I think there’s almost nothing better at doing that than stories, and in this case, the movies.”

Blum was presented the award by Universal Filmed Entertainment Group chairman Donna Langley, who delivered a charming speech where she admitted she’s not a huge fan of the genre “I can’t even watch that reel without freaking out,” Langley admitted.

Saluting Blumhouse’s achievements at the box office, Langley described Blum and his team’s approach as “bold and fearless and impossibly original as his Halloween costumes every year.”

“Words really do for quite short for me when it comes to expressing what an incredibly loyal father, friend, husband that Jason is,” she said of Blum. “Your partnership, and friendship have been invaluable, and I’m just so proud that you’ve chosen to make Universal your home for more than a decade. You harness the power of cinema to sometimes frighten us, often enlighten us, but always entertain us, and it’s been such an honor to be part of those crazy schemes and stories bouncing around in that extraordinary mind of yours.”

Taking the stage to accept the trophy, Blum thanked Langley and Universal for their partnership and American Cinematheque for the special honor.

“For a long time at Blumhouse we’ve been kind of a group of misfit outsiders — we’re not allowed to think of ourselves like that anymore, I suppose … but I still feel that way, which I’m happy about,” Blum began.

He dedicated the award to the filmmakers Blumhouse has worked with over the years, beginning with Oren Peli on “Paranormal Activity.” When that movie “seemed to catch fire” or “lightning in a bottle,” Blum remembered, lots of people advised him to make bigger, more expensive movies. That was just the “normal path to success” in Hollywood, they explained. But Blum thought – and still thinks — that’s crazy.

“I thought about why I didn’t want to do that, and all the fun I had on ‘Paranormal,’ and I realized that I wanted to keep making weird little independent movies that might have a huge cultural impact,” he said. “And if we did get those little movies into thousands of theaters, they become big movies.”

The appeal of moviemaking is working with these directors who are themselves real horror fans (or fanatics in some cases) as they experiment. “There’s nothing more satisfying to me than seeing a horror movie director of a low budget movie try something weird or unusual or different, and watching it in theater, full of 500 people in a dark room and watching the audience jump out of their seat,” he added.

Blum also shouted out Scott Derrickson (“Sinister,” “The Black Phone”), Jordan Peele (“Get Out”), Leigh Whannell (“Insidious,” “The Invisible Man”), M. Night Shyamalan (“The Visit”) and especially “legally, I have to say, my hopefully, soon-to-be, if the deal closes, partner,” Wan.

“I’m very, very excited for what might come when we all hopefully work together,” Blum said, pointing to Wan in the ballroom. “I owe so much thanks to all those directors and all the great artists that we’ve worked with over the years, and all these people trusted our little system to make their movies.”

Before concluding his speech with a slightly tearful nod to his wife Lauren Schuker Blum (who missed the ceremony because she was on set wrapping her latest project “Dumb Money”), Blum acknowledged the audiences who’ve supported these movies.

“I’m also super grateful to lunatic horror fans,” he said. “There are millions and millions of misfits and outsiders who’ve come together to watch our Blumhouse films in theaters and have a shared experience of being scared together.”

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