As the film industry continues to bounce back from the shutdown of theaters around the world in 2020, there have been a lot of questions about what movies work on the big screen and which ones don’t. There have been a number of significant hits and misses during the era – but one arena that has seen relatively consistent positive results is the horror genre. While dramas and comedies have proven to have unclear potential in cinemas, box office results suggest that audiences are still excited to gather together in auditoriums to get scared.
Given these circumstances, James Wan and Jason Blum – two of the biggest names in the world of modern horror– are in quite an incredible position. The duo first collaborated over a decade ago in the making of 2010’s Insidious (which has since launched three sequels, and a fourth is on the way), and most recently they co-produced M3GAN, which just had a tremendously successful opening weekend. They clearly work well together, and now they are set to take their partnership to the next level by actually becoming partners: it was announced this past November that their two production companies, Atomic Monster and Blumhouse Productions, are in the process of merging.
Wan and Blum are together in a key position to guide the future of horror and maintain its success on the big screen, and I recently had the opportunity to talk with them and learn about their outlook. I sat down with the filmmakers during the recent Los Angeles press day for director Gerard Johnstone’s M3GAN, and we discussed three different facets of where the genre stands: the popularity of original titles, the lack of a subgenre trend, and audiences’ acceptance of more “weird.”
How James Wan And Jason Blum Look At Balancing Original Horror Movies And Franchise Films
While modern Hollywood has become dependent on franchises and established properties, one of the most remarkable things about horror movies in 2022 was the popularity of original titles. Audiences demonstrated clear excitement to see Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s Scream and David Gordon Green’s Halloween Ends, but the genre’s biggest success stories were Jordan Peele’s Nope, Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone, Parker Finn’s Smile, and Zach Cregger’s Barbarian .
This hasn’t gone unnoticed by James Wan and Jason Blum, who individually have resumes filled with films of both varieties. As a director, Wan has contributed to the Fast & Furious and DC Extended Universe canons, but has a resume of originals including the aforementioned Insidious, Saw, and The Conjuring (… all of which, of course, eventually became franchise titles themselves because of their success). He’s made sequels, but he has never made a full trilogy because of his desire to cultivate new ideas instead of old ones.
Wan wants this kind of to balance to continue in the movies that he and Blum develop and produce together. Discussing it, he recognized that audiences love to see continuations of established brands (nodding to the Blum-produced Exorcist legacyquel that is in the works), but doesn’t forget that those established brands started as originals that wowed us when we were younger. Said the filmmaker,
I think coming up with original stuff is very important. I think, as we saw this year, as you pointed out, I think the fans crave new, original stuff, right? And I mean, as much as we all love IPs as well – we want to see the next Friday the 13th or next Nightmare On Elm Street, right? Or the next Exorcist! We love the characters that we kind of grew up with, but at the same time, when we were growing up, we were constantly getting new movies.
We will see James Wan and Jason Blum make franchise moves (for example M3GAN’s ending leaves the door wide open for a sequel), but Wan explained that pursuing the production of originals is “good for the soul.” He added,
That is very important for Jason and myself and one of the things that that we are very mindful of in our partnership is we want to be able to balance that. We wanna go, we want to cook up, come up with great new ideas – that's good for the soul, at least for me. But also kind of delve into the IP stuff that we love as well and that we know the fans love too. And so it's about finding that balance.
If they can continue producing originals that turn into box office hits like M3GAN, that balance shouldn’t be hard to maintain.
How James Wan And Jason Blum Feel About The Current Lack Of A Subgenre Trend In Horror
In addition to the popularity of non-IP projects, a standout aspect of success in modern horror is that none of it is hanging on any specific trends. It’s been the case in the past that certain subgenres or styles explode and then get exploited until oversaturation – examples including slashers, zombies, vampires, and found footage – but there’s no pattern to speak of when you look at the big winners from 2022.
It’s a climate that Jason Blum and James Wan apparently feel wholly comfortable in, as they told me that they try not to pay attention to those kinds of trends anyway. Blum explained that when you try and pinpoint exactly what an audience wants, you end up making something that’s dated by the time it moves through production. Said Blum,
I think James would probably say the same thing: I try to not... I try and drown out like a trend or, you know... I don't like the notion of like, 'the audience will like...', or 'the audience will feel like...' You gotta kind of just read the scripts and is this something that moves you? Do you like this? And then kind of buy into that. I think as soon as you start trying to second guess what the audience is gonna want to do, it's too late. Your movie is gonna feel old. So I try and not do that, but, you know, studios do it differently.
Wan echoed his fellow producer’s sentiments, noting that the key is focusing in on ideas that grab and excite them as filmmakers:
I totally agree with Jason. You're just gonna make the best movie you can, right? You gotta find the thing that excites you… Whatever you do, you need to come up with something that at the end of the day is grounded and it lets the audience something to sort of relate to, right? Something for the audience hooks onto. Doesn't matter how big and outrageous your concept is as long as you make a story that is a human story, you'll always get an audience.
Blum added,
Just to build off what James said, it doesn't matter if it's supernatural or if it's really violent or if it's found footage – if it does THAT, it'll work.
With And After M3GAN, James Wan And Jason Blum Want To Keep Horror Weird
In order for any horror movie to work, it perpetually needs to keep audiences on their toes and throw out new and different ideas. That’s something we’ve seen in recent months with hits like Barbarian and Damien Leone’s Terrifier 2, and M3GAN certainly has its fair share of surprise as well. The hallway dance the titular android performs went viral because it’s really goddamn weird.
That’s certainly the intended vibe, and something that the producers only want to embrace further as their partnership develops. As Jason Blum put it during our interview,
I think both of us love, love weird. And I think that's one of the great things about horror is that it celebrates being weird.
Adding, James Wan explained that there is an inherent desire to understand the familiar and break it in a way that results in something special. In this realm, Wan gave a lot of credit to screenwriter Akela Cooper, who worked with Wan on both M3GAN and 2021’s Malignant. Said the director/producer,
You wanna be a little bit outside of the box. So even if you're making a movie that is in a particular subgenre or a particular style, you always wanna try and kind of break the boundary a little bit. And I think, you know, the horror genre really lets you try things. I mean, my god, when we made Malignant, that was insane. And that's a great thing about working with Akela [Cooper], is she's so not afraid to push the boundaries. And that's what we love with M3GAN. We go, 'Ok, we have this movie, but what can we do to sort of branch out and do things a little bit different that people haven't seen before?' I think that is important to do stuff that people haven't seen before.
With this mindset in place as James Wan and Jason Blum continue to make movies together, hopefully the horror genre will only continue to blossom.
To keep track of all the excellent scary films that are on the way to both theaters and streaming in the coming months/years, check out our Upcoming Horror Movies guide.
