Jason Blum and James Wan See a New Horror Revolution Brewing and Want Blumhouse-Atomic Monster to Become the “Disney of Horror”

While plenty of people continue to question the future of theatrical movies, Jason Blum and James Wan are looking at the current landscape with a lot more optimism. In fact, the two horror powerhouses believe a new wave of filmmakers is helping reshape the industry, and the success of their latest films is proving it.

During a fireside chat with outgoing PGA President Stephanie Allain at the Produced By Conference on the Universal Studios lot, Blum shared his excitement about what he sees happening in theaters right now.

With Obsession and Backrooms making major noise at the box office, he believes audiences are responding to a new generation of filmmakers who developed their storytelling instincts outside traditional Hollywood pathways.

“Since Covid, there’s been this lethargic feeling around theatrical, and is it relevant anymore, and is it going to survive?” Blum said. “And what I think is so incredible about Obsession and Backrooms is that they’re a new kind of movie. They’re made by non-traditional directors, directors who really honed their skills as creators online.”

For Blum, the appeal of these projects goes beyond strong box office numbers. He sees something familiar in the energy these filmmakers are bringing to the genre.

“Backrooms and Obsession,” Blum said, “are edgy and weird and f*cking nuts, and to me, there’s almost this feeling of the ’70s, of this new generation of young people who are making edgy movies that are connecting in theaters in a crazy way.”

He also pointed to the growing number of online creators looking to make the leap to theatrical filmmaking as a promising sign for the industry.

“The stars of the internet want to make movies” and specifically for theaters, which Blum believes means “there’s f*cking hope in the movie business, and it’s exciting.”

The success of Obsession certainly supports that outlook. Blum revealed that the film crossed the $100 million mark and accomplished something no movie has managed since E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, posting increased box office numbers for two consecutive weekends after its debut.

Part of that success, he believes, comes from the unique relationship YouTube creators have with their audiences. According to Blum, these filmmakers approach audience feedback in a completely different way than many traditionally trained directors.

“YouTube creators are so obsessed and so connected to their audience,” Blum explained. He went on to describe how test screenings have become an extension of the creative process for these filmmakers rather than an uncomfortable obligation.

“They’re sitting at the front row, recording the audience with the camera. They’re just obsessed about how the audience is reacting to their movies, and I think that’s one of the reasons that these movies are connecting with younger people in the way that they are. Because they’re created by a group of people who are thinking about directing in a very different way.”

The conversation also touched on the merger between Blumhouse and Atomic Monster, which officially came together more than two years ago. While Blum acknowledged the process took time and wasn’t a typical Hollywood business move, he believes it has succeeded because he and Wan bring different strengths to the table.

According to Blum, the structure has remained intentionally simple. “The idea is that ‘it’s two labels and one company,’” he explained. “So James has his creative group, Blumhouse has our creative group, but we share everything else… In the beginning, it was a very conscious effort to keep two cultures with one P&L, and I think we’ve done a pretty good job.”

One of the biggest advantages of the partnership is their shared ability to identify emerging creators and help guide them into theatrical filmmaking.

“The strength of the combined companies,” Blum noted, comes from their “understanding of how to harness the talent of these new generation of creators and turn it into theatrical movies, which is complicated.”

When discussing Obsession, Blum credited producers Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath of Divide/Conquer for recognizing the project’s potential before he did.

He admitted that he initially “did not understand” the film the same way they did, but trusted their instincts and was impressed by filmmaker Curry Barker’s vision. That confidence has already led to Blum backing Barker’s next feature, Anything but Ghosts, which is expected to be released by Focus next year.

Blum also explained that Obsession is the result of a strategic shift that began roughly a year ago after several Blumhouse releases underperformed.

“We had a string of movies that didn’t perform as well as I wanted them to, and we made a bunch of internal changes in the company,” he said. “We hired Sam Zimmerman to really go back to our roots, to start looking at low-budget movies again through a different lens.

“Our older low-budget movies were almost never directed by a first-time director, so we were looking at low-budget movies by a younger generation of filmmakers…It was a very calculated thing that we did, so it’s very satisfying to see it pay off like it’s paying off with Obsession.”

As for where Blumhouse-Atomic Monster is headed next, Blum didn’t hesitate when discussing the long-term goal. “What’s the aspiration?” he said. “‘The Disney of horror’ is the aspiration in five years.”

That’s a huge target, but considering the momentum the companies currently have, it’s not hard to see why they’re aiming that high.

Meanwhile, Backrooms is making history of its own. Directed by Kane Parsons, who was just 16 years old when Wan first connected with him, the creepypasta-inspired horror film opened this weekend and is projected to earn as much as $90 million in its debut. If those numbers hold, it would set a new opening weekend record for A24.

If Blum is right, the horror genre may be entering another transformative era, driven by filmmakers who grew up creating online content and are now bringing that energy to the big screen. Based on the audience response to Obsession and Backrooms, moviegoers seem more than ready for it.