BLUMHOUSE OF HORROR
Jason Blum’s ‘Truth or Dare’ follows a string of successes
How do you know Jason Blum's a titan in the cinematic worlds of horror, suspense and the supernatural? Because the full title of this Friday's “Truth or Dare” is “Blumhouse's Truth or Dare.” Blum has climbed Hollywood's peak the only way it matters: a steady stream of money-making hits.
The filmmaker's formula — first-rate scripts, lowcost or micro budgeting, few stars and provocative marketing — has resulted in a 10-year deal at Universal, where his work shines between animated Illumination family fare and studio blockbusters.
Last year Blumhouse scored $664 million on a quartet of films whose combined budgets was less than $28 million. The four were: “Get Out,” which was Academy Award nominated as best picture and won for best original screenplay, M. Night Shyamalan's “Split,” “The Purge: Election Year” and a “Ouija” sequel.
Blum, 49, has expanded beyond horror. He was Emmy nominated for the revelatory 2015 HBO documentary “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” which resulted in the millionaire's trial for the murder of his friend Susan Berman.
“Whiplash,” the 2014 arthouse hit, was his first nomination for a best picture Oscar.
“Truth or Dare,” with a title that references a Madonna movie as well as a party game and a cast of unknowns who work for scale (and a percentage), illustrates how cheap — less than $5 million, more for sequels — movies can break even on opening weekend.
Blum began by working with Ethan Hawke's New York-based theater company, then moved to acquiring movies for Miramax.
It was the Blumhouse $15,000 “Paranormal Activity” in 2007 that kickstarted his dazzling upward trajectory. It grossed $110 million domestically and another $83 million abroad and prompted several sequels.
The horror meister can revel in the satisfaction that comes with knowing when everyone else said “No,” his “Yes” meant these movies got made and got seen.
“Get Out changed the stature of horror movies, Joel Edgerton's creepy “The Gift” revealed a confident new director and “The Purge” has become a money machine with three sequels — the next due in July — and an upcoming TV series.
And as a reminder that horror is seemingly forever, October finds Blumhouse resurrecting Michael Myers for a “final” confrontation with Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode in a rebooted “Halloween.”