Jason Blum

Jason Blum began his career as the producing director of the Malaparte Theater Company, which was founded by Ethan Hawke. Jason Blum is the founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, a multimedia production company that has pioneered a new model of studio filmmaking by producing high-quality micro-budget films for wide release.

Since its launch in 2000, Blumhouse has produced more than 30 feature films including the highly profitable Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Purge and Sinister franchises. Eight of Blumhouse's recent films have grossed a combined $1 billion at the worldwide box office on budgets less than $5 million.

Blumhouse's The Purge, its first production under its first-look deal with Universal Pictures, grossed more than $34 million domestically on its opening weekend, with a budget of just $3 million. Blumhouse's Insidious: Chapter 2, for FilmDistrict, grossed more than $40 million domestically on its opening weekend, with a budget of just $5 million.

Blumhouse's model began with the original Paranormal Activity, which was made for $15,000 and released by Paramount Pictures, grossed close to $200 million worldwide, making it the most profitable film in the history of Hollywood. Blumhouse also produced the phenomenally successful sequels Paranormal Activity 2, Paranormal Activity 3 and Paranormal Activity 4.

Blumhouse's other more recent micro-budget wide releases include Jessabelle, for Lionsgate, The Purge: Anarchy and Ouija, for Universal Pictures, and Paranormal Activity 5 for Paramount Pictures.

For Halloween 2012, Blumhouse built The Blumhouse of Horrors, an innovative and frightening haunted house experience in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. Blumhouse's Los Angeles-based movie production team used its expertise in horror film production, storytelling and movie set design to transform the Variety Arts Theater into a fully immersive and chillingly intense Halloween attraction. In 2013, Blumhouse invited horror fans to experience The Purge: Fear the Night, a live event inspired by the backstory to the feature film.

In television, Blumhouse executive produced the scripted series The River for ABC, and the unscripted series Stranded, for Syfy, and is currently in postproduction on The Normal Heart, directed by Ryan Murphy, for HBO. Blumhouse's Eye Candy, which stars Victoria Justice, recently received a 10-episode pickup from MTV. Blumhouse's Ascension was also picked up as a six-hour limited series on Syfy.

Previously, Blumhouse has had deals with Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Alliance Films, Miramax Films and HBO Films. From 1995 to 2000, Blum served as co-head of the acquisitions and co-productions department at Miramax Films in New York. At Miramax, he was instrumental in acquiring more than 50 films, including The Others, Smoke Signals, A Walk on the Moon and The House of Yes.

Blum's credits include The Tooth Fairy, which starred Dwayne Johnson; The Reader, which garnered Kate Winslet an Academy Award®; Hysterical Blindness, which earned Uma Thurman a Golden Globe Award; and Hamlet, which starred Ethan Hawke, Bill Murray, Sam Shepard and Kyle MacLachlan.

Universal Pictures