Jason Blum

Jason Ferus Blum (; born February 20, 1969) is an American producer. He is the founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, best known for horror franchises such as '' Paranormal Activity'' (2007–2021), '' ''Insidious'''' (2010–2023), '' 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), and '' Speak No Evil'' (2024).

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 "Jason Ferus Blum was born in LA in 1969 to Shirley Neilsen, an art professor, and Irving Blum, an art dealer" was born in Los Angeles on February 20, 1969, 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. He is of Jewish descent. He graduated from New York's Vassar College in 1991. He was a roommate of future filmmaker Noah Baumbach during his time there, and later produced Baumbach's first film '' Kicking and Screaming'' (1995).

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. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. 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. 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.

In 2000, Blum founded Blumhouse Productions, which is known for producing micro-budget films that give directors full creative control. Bloomberg News praised him for making "blockbusters for pennies", 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. In addition, '' Planet Money'' released a special podcast episode about the company's methods, referring to Blum as the "business genius behind '' Get Out''".

Blum also produced '' Insidious'' (2010), '' Sinister'' (2012), '' The Purge'' (2013) and '' Happy Death Day'' (2017), as well as their sequels. 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''. '' BlacKkKlansman'', '' Whiplash'', and ''Get Out'', all produced by Blum, were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

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. After much criticism on social media, in which lists of such directors were widely circulated, he apologized for what he called his "dumb comments". Sophia Takal co-wrote and directed the Blumhouse horror remake '' Black Christmas'' (2019), the studio's first theatrically released film by a female director.

Other ventures

Politics

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. He said, " orrorreaches 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'."

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. In his acceptance speech, he said, "A lot is on the line the midterms">018_United_States_elections.html" ;"title="n 2018 United States elections">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 itand I don't like it." 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." Yossi Dina tried unsuccessfully to pull Blum off the stage. 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." He received support from fellow Jews such as Judd Apatow and Jamie Lee Curtis, whilst 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.

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''.

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.

Blum sits on the boards of the Public Theater in New York, the Sundance Institute, Vassar College, and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

Charity

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.

Personal life

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

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)

Television

Executive producer

Producer

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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*

Interview with Blum
(2013)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blum, Jason
1969 births
20th-century American businesspeople
21st-century American businesspeople
American chief executives in the mass media industry
American film production company founders
American film studio executives
American people of Jewish descent
Businesspeople from Brooklyn
Businesspeople from Los Angeles
Film producers from Los Angeles
Film producers from New York City
Filmmakers from Brooklyn
Horror film producers
Independent Spirit Award winners
Jewish American film people
Living people
Miramax people
People from Brooklyn Heights
Primetime Emmy Award winners
Taft School alumni
Television producers from California
Television producers from New York City
Vassar College alumni