Two years after Blumhouse and Atomic Monster merged, horror maestros Jason Blum and James Wan are rebranding their company. Blumhouse’s Atomic Monster is no more. In its place is Blumhouse Atomic.
Blumhouse and Atomic Monster will serve as separate labels within the larger company, with their respective teams developing films and TV shows.
“When we merged our companies, we thought the whole would be greater than the sum of its parts, and that’s exactly what happened,” said Blum, who praised his partner Wan for creating successful franchises. The Conjuring, Insidious And Saw. “We have the product of a studio with the creative freedom and financial discipline of an independent company, and more opportunities than ever to take these stories beyond theater and onto television, into games and into live experiences.”
The rebranding comes after the combined company’s films have brought in $2.5 billion in box office revenue since the merger, compared to $330 million in production budgets. This haul was led by the global tally of $525 million for Obsession (which the company boarded after Focus Features acquired independent production), The Conjuring: Last Rites (nearly 500 million dollars worldwide) and Behind the scenes ($400.6 million globally).
“The future of horror comes from new voices, and Blumhouse Atomic gives us more ways to find them and support them for the long term,” Wan said. “I started with a small film and people were willing to take a chance, so creating these opportunities for others is personal to me. Working with filmmakers like Kane Parsons, Curry Barker, Josh Giuliano and Dylan Clark is a big part of that. We want to give them the freedom to create something distinctive and build relationships that last beyond a film.”
Indeed, Behind the scenes And Obsession sparked an arms race among studios to recruit new filmmakers who could make an outsized impact on smaller budgets. Earlier this year, Blumhouse Atomic named Sam Zimmerman as senior vice president, development and acquisitions, to oversee a slate of genre projects under $5 million. He also signed a first look with horror producers Divide/Conquer to focus on high-profile genre films that can be made for a certain price.
This also earned Barker the first post-Obsession film contract for an unknown project at Universal in a major coup, and has new releases Paranormal activity, Blair Witch Project And Saw (with Wan producing after the company bought the Lionsgate franchise).
Coming soon, the Blumhouse Atomic roster includes River, The Revenge of La Llorona, The Exorcist: Martyrs, Everything but ghosts, Paranormal activity, Moles, Blair Witch, Pajama party And Seasons.
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