Jason Blum has a new goal for Blumhouse, and he isn’t being shy about it. He wants to build the Disney of horror.
Speaking with THR amid the box office success of Obsession and Backrooms, the Blumhouse founder laid out a five-year plan to turn his company into the kind of name audiences trust on sight.
The timing is no accident, with Obsession pulling off a box office run not seen since E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Jason Blum Wants The Disney Of Horror
Asked about his goal, Blum told THR that becoming “the Disney of horror” is what he is chasing over the next five years.
It’s a big swing. Disney’s name has long been shorthand for a certain kind of moviegoing experience, especially with family films. Blum is saying he wants the Blumhouse logo to carry that same instant trust for horror fans.
In other words, he wants audiences to show up for the company as much as the movie.
Blumhouse Has The Numbers Right Now
The timing makes the comment hit harder.
Blumhouse and Atomic Monster held the top two spots at the domestic box office in the same weekend, both with movies made for very little money.
Obsession, in particular, has done something almost unheard of for horror, rising two weekends in a row in a run analysts have called virtually unprecedented.
For a company built on low-budget, high-upside horror, that is the proof Blum needs. The model isn’t just producing profitable small swings. It is producing real theatrical breakouts.
Blum Says Horror Is Entering A New Phase
Blum also framed Obsession and Backrooms as a different kind of studio movie.
He pointed to the post-COVID stretch where theatrical moviegoing felt uncertain and argued that these films are reconnecting young audiences with theaters.
He credited a new generation of directors who built their skills online, calling the movies edgy, weird, and made by creators who came up outside the usual Hollywood system.
Blum compared the energy to the 1970s, when young, unconventional filmmakers shook up the business. His point is clear: audiences are responding to movies that feel like they were made for them, not focus-grouped into place.
James Wan Says Horror Keeps Saving Hollywood
Blum isn’t the only one seeing a bigger shift.
James Wan, the filmmaker behind Saw and The Conjuring, told THR the genre has once again proven its value to the industry, saying, “The horror genre keeps saving our industry.”
Wan pointed to his own roots as a horror fan raised on John Carpenter and Wes Craven, and said today’s filmmakers are following a similar path by making the movies they grew up loving.
That’s part of what makes this moment interesting. Obsession and Backrooms are not coming from the usual studio playbook. They are coming from filmmakers who built audiences online and carried that style into theaters.
What The Disney Of Horror Really Means
Stripped of the soundbite, Blum’s goal is about trust.
Disney’s power has always been that audiences know what the name means. Blum wants Blumhouse to reach the point where horror fans see the logo and buy a ticket without needing much else.
That level of loyalty is rare in horror. The genre has had major franchises, from Halloween to The Conjuring, but few labels have become the selling point on their own.
Blumhouse is trying to change that.
Blumhouse Has A Real Case
Blum’s “Disney of horror” line sounds like a boast, but he is saying it at the right moment.
Obsession is breaking the usual horror box office rules, Backrooms is right there with it, and Blumhouse has another example of how far low-budget horror can go when the audience connects.
Becoming the Disney of horror in five years is still a massive goal. For now, Blumhouse has the momentum, the numbers, and the timing to make the claim without sounding crazy.
