Jason Blum

Jason Ferus Blum (/blʌm/;^[1] born February 20, 1969) is an American producer. He is the founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, best known for horror franchises including Paranormal Activity (2007–2021), Insidious (2010–present), The Purge (2013–2021), and Halloween (2018–2022).

Other Blumhouse films include Sinister (2012), Oculus (2013), Whiplash (2014), The Gallows (2015), The Gift (2015), Hush (2016), Split (2016), Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016), Get Out (2017), Happy Death Day (2017), Upgrade (2018), BlacKkKlansman (2018), Us (2019), The Invisible Man (2020), Freaky (2020), The Black Phone (2021), M3GAN (2022), Five Nights at Freddy's (2023), Speak No Evil (2024) and Five Nights at Freddy's 2 (2025).

Blum received Academy Award for Best Picture nominations for Whiplash, Get Out, and BlacKkKlansman. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie for the drama film The Normal Heart (2014) and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series for the documentary miniseries The Jinx (2015). He also received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Musical for Death Becomes Her (2024).

Early life

Jason Ferus Blum^[2] was born in Los Angeles^[3] on February 20, 1969,^[4] the son of art professor Shirley Neilsen Blum (née Neilsen) and independent art dealer Irving Blum. His father served as director of the Ferus Gallery.^[5][6] He is Jewish.^[7][8] He graduated from New York's Vassar College in 1991.^[9] He was a roommate of future filmmaker Noah Baumbach during his time there, and later produced Baumbach's first film Kicking and Screaming (1995).^[10][11]

Career

Blum found work as an executive for Bob and Harvey Weinstein at their production company Miramax, and later as an independent producer for Paramount Pictures. Prior to his tenure at Miramax, he was a producing director at the Malaparte theater company in New York.^[12] He is a member of the board of trustees of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.^[13] He obtained financing for his first film as producer, Kicking and Screaming (1995), after asking family friend Steve Martin to read the script and write a letter endorsing it if he enjoyed it.^[14] After Martin obliged, Blum replaced the title page of the script with copies of Martin's letter before he sent the script to Hollywood executives.^[14]

In 2000, Blum founded Blumhouse Productions, which is known for producing micro-budget films that give directors full creative control.^[12] Bloomberg News praised him for making "blockbusters for pennies",^[15] the first example of which came with the horror film Paranormal Activity (2007), which became one of the most profitable films of all time as it grossed nearly $200 million on a $15,000 budget.^[16] In addition, Planet Money released a special podcast episode about the company's methods, referring to Blum as the "business genius behind Get Out".^[17]Blum also produced Insidious (2010), Sinister (2012), The Purge (2013) and Happy Death Day (2017), as well as their sequels.^[18] In 2014, he served as executive producer for the television film The Normal Heart, which went on to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie. In 2015, he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series for HBO's The Jinx.^[19] BlacKkKlansman, Whiplash, and Get Out, all produced by Blum, were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.^[20]

In 2018, Blum said in an interview that the reason no woman had ever directed a Blumhouse horror film was that "there are not a lot of female directors [...] and even less who are inclined to do horror", but said that he hoped to one day achieve this goal.^[21] After much criticism on social media, in which lists of such directors were widely circulated,^[22] he apologized for what he called his "dumb comments".^[23] Sophia Takal co-wrote and directed the Blumhouse horror remake Black Christmas (2019), the studio's first theatrically-released film by a female director.^[24][25]

Other ventures

Political views

In June 2018, Blum told Variety that his upcoming prequel The First Purge would deal with racial tensions in the U.S. and said that all of the films in The Purge franchise have a political slant, giving examples such as the first film primarily being a parable about gun control and the third film addressing class warfare.^[26] He said, "[Horror] reaches an audience in which politics may not be front of mind and it makes politics front of mind. The Purge reaches an audience that isn't thinking of gun control every day and might start thinking of gun control. If every time there's a shooting in the United States, the government's answer is put more guns in people's hands, then what The Purge is showing doesn't seem all that crazy. Donald Trump keeps saying 'give teachers guns'. I could see him saying 'let people shoot whoever they want to for 12 hours a year'."^[26]

In November 2018, Blum (who is of Jewish heritage) attended the Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles to accept an award for Achievement in Film and Television.^[7][8] In his acceptance speech, he said, "A lot is on the line [in the midterms]. The last two years have been hard for all of us who cherish the freedom as citizens of this country. The great thing about this country is that you can like Trump, but I don't have to, and I can say what I feel about it—and I don't like it."^[7][8] He was heavily booed, to which he responded, "As you can see from this auditorium, it's the end of civil discourse. We have a president who calls the press the enemy of the people. Thanks to our president, antisemitism is on the rise."^[7][8] Yossi Dina tried unsuccessfully to pull Blum off the stage.^[7][8] Blum later tweeted the full speech, which said in part, "Nationalism is surging. Dog whistle politics are rampant and antisemitism is on the rise in ways my generation never thought imaginable."^[7][8] He received support from fellow Jews such as Judd Apatow and Jamie Lee Curtis,^[7][8] while festival director Meir Fenigstein stated that the audience "greatly lacked respect" and "turned an evening of celebration and recognition into something else" by booing him.^[7][8]

Business

On August 14, 2020, Daily Front Row listed Blum as one of a group of high-profile investors who purchased failing fashion magazine W.^[27] After appearing on an episode of Shark Tank, Blum made a deal with American Immersion Theater, the leading immersive theater company in the U.S.^[28]

Philanthropy

In 2022, Blum donated $10 million to Vassar College, which was noted as the largest gift ever given to the college from a male alumnus.^[29] Blum sits on the boards of the Public Theater in New York, the Sundance Institute, Vassar College, and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Blum married journalist Lauren A. E. Schuker in Los Angeles on July 14, 2012.^[5] They currently reside in a townhouse in Brooklyn Heights, which he purchased for $9.8 million in 2019.^[30]

Filmography

Film

Universal Pictures

Paramount Pictures

Producer

Executive producer

• A House on the Bayou (2021)
• American Refugee (2021)
• Torn Hearts (2022)
• Unhuman (2022)
• The Visitor (2022)
• There's Something Wrong with the Children (2023)
• Unseen (2023)
• The Passenger (2023)

Lionsgate Films

Focus Features

Sony Pictures Releasing

Netflix

Producer

Executive producer

• A Secret Love (2020) (Documentary)
• Pray Away (2020) (Documentary)

Amazon MGM Studios

Executive producer

• Black Box (2020)
• Evil Eye (2020)
• Nocturne (2020)
• Bingo Hell (2021)
• Black as Night (2021)
• Madres (2021)
• The Manor (2021)
• Nanny (2022)
• The Bondsman (2025)

Producer

• The Lie (2018)
• Run Sweetheart Run (2020)
• Totally Killer (2023)

FilmDistrict

Producer

Executive producer

• The Green Inferno (2013)
• Sleight (2016)
• Birth of the Dragon (2016)

The Weinsteins

Producer

Executive producer

• Hamlet (2000)
• The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina (2002)
• The Reader (2008)
• Lawless (2012)
• 13 Sins (2014)

Other

Producer

Executive producer

• One Way Out (1996)
• Graduation (2007)
• The FP (2011)
• Oculus (2013)
• Exeter (2015)
• Fifteen (2015) (Short film)
• Stockholm (2018)
• The Vigil (2019)
• Pharma Bro (2021) (Documentary)
• Exposure (2022)
• Soft & Quiet (2022)

Actor

• Unknown Dimension: The Story of Paranormal Activity (2021) (Documentary film, himself)^[32]

Television

Executive producer

Producer

Awards and nominations

References

1. ^ "Five Favorite Horror Films: Jason Blum". Rotten Tomatoes. October 15, 2018. Archived April 19, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
2. ^ Brady, Tara (March 16, 2017). "Jason Blum, the man who made $193m on a $15,000 film budget". The Irish Times "Jason Ferus Blum was born in Los Angeles in 1969 to Shirley Neilsen, an art professor, and Irving Blum, an art dealer"
3. ^ Bhattacharji, Alex (July 16, 2018). "How Producer Jason Blum is Disrupting Hollywood". The Wall Street Journal. Archived September 20, 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
4. ^ "Jason Blum". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
5. ^ "Weddings/Celebrations - Lauren Schuker and Jason Blum". The New York Times. July 15, 2012. Archived March 10, 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
6. ^ "Blum, Shirley". Dictionary of Art Historians. Archived March 31, 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 30, 2018. the couple (Hopps), along with the artist Edward Kienholz founded the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles in 1957.
7. ^ "Jewish producer booed off LA Israeli film festival stage for anti-Trump remarks". The Times of Israel
8. ^ "Get Out producer booed off stage at Israeli film festival for criticising Trump". TheGuardian.com. November 8, 2018.
9. ^ Hertz, Larry (2020-02-27). "Award Winning Film and TV Producer Jason Blum '91 to Deliver Commencement Address - Stories - Vassar College". Vassar.edu. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
10. ^ "How I Made It: Jason Blum, film producer". Los Angeles Times. 2011-11-27. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
11. ^ Macaulay, Scott (2017-01-25). "Working Through Fear: An Interview with Blumhouse's Jason Blum | Filmmaker Magazine". Filmmaker Magazine | Publication with a focus on independent film, offering articles, links, and resources.. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
12. ^ "About Blumhouse Productions". Blumhouse.com. Archived from the original on June 21, 2013.
13. ^ "Academy Museum Names New Board of Trustees | Hollywood Reporter". Hollywood Reporter. December 5, 2017. Archived October 29, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
14. ^ "I am Jason Blum, producer of Paranormal Activity, The Purge and Insidious: Chapter2". Reddit. June 18, 2013. Archived April 1, 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
15. ^ "Jason Blum, the Penny-Pinching Horror Movie Maestro". Bloomberg.com. 2014-04-25. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
16. ^ "Paranormal Activity (2007)". Box Office Mojo. Archived September 9, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
17. ^ "Episode 650: The Business Genius Behind Get Out". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
18. ^ "Q&A: Producer Jason Blum talks "OUIJA", "PURGE 3", "CURVE" & More…". Fangoria. February 4, 2015. Archived from the original on February 4, 2015. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
19. ^ "2015 - 67th Emmy Awards". www.emmys.com. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
20. ^ "Oscar Nominations: 'Grand Budapest Hotel' & 'Birdman' Lead Way With 9 Noms; 'Imitation Game' Scores 8". Deadline. January 15, 2015. Archived March 29, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
21. ^ Patches, Matt (18 October 2018). "Blumhouse has never produced a theatrically released horror movie directed by a woman — but hopes to". Polygon. Archived January 28, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
22. ^ Nyren, Erin (18 October 2018). "Jason Blum Says He's Meeting With Women Directors After Claiming 'There Aren't a Lot'". Variety. Archived October 20, 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
23. ^ Lussier, Germain (19 October 2018). "Halloween Producer Jason Blum Has Apologized for His Ridiculous Comments About Women Directors". io9. Archived October 20, 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
24. ^ Kohn, Eric (December 7, 2018). "Blumhouse Hires Another Woman Director: Sophia Takal's All-Female Horror Movie". Archived December 9, 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
25. ^ Mendehlson, Scott (December 14, 2019). "Friday Box Office: 'Richard Jewell' And 'Black Christmas' Flop, 'Uncut Gems' And 'Bombshell' Break Out". Forbes. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
26. ^ "Jason Blum on 'Get Out 2' and Why He Couldn't Have Made 'A Quiet Place'". June 22, 2018.
27. ^ Spangler, Todd (2020-08-14). "Karlie Kloss Leads Buyout of W Magazine, With Jason Blum Among New Owners". Variety. Retrieved 2022-09-20.
28. ^ Couch, Aaron (2024-09-19). "Blumhouse Inks Deal With 'Shark Tank' Contestant American Immersion Theater". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
29. ^ "Good News: Jason Blum Donated $10 Million to Vassar". 17 June 2022.
30. ^ Keil, Jennifer Gould (24 July 2019). "Producer Jason Blum shells out $10M for Brooklyn townhouse". NY Post. Archived August 8, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
31. ^ Grobar, Matt (2 December 2025). "Blumhouse Boards Curry Barker's Romance-Themed Focus Horror Flick 'Obsession' — Watch The Trailer". Retrieved 2 December 2025.
32. ^ Unknown Dimension: The Story of Paranormal Activity (2021). Retrieved 2024-10-25. – via www.blu-ray.com.
33. ^ Grein, Paul (May 1, 2025). "‘Buena Vista Social Club,’ ‘Death Becomes Her’ and ‘Maybe Happy Ending’ Lead 2025 Tony Award Nominations: Full List". Billboard. Retrieved May 3, 2025.

External links

• Blumhouse Productions
• Jason Blum at IMDb
• Interview with Blum (2013)