Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions has been scaring audiences stateside since 2007's Paranormal Activity. Seven years later, with the company's low-budget horror films Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and The Purge becoming highly profitable horror franchises and Sinister looking to do the same with its upcoming sequel, Blumhouse is now taking its filmmaking formula to India.
In a partnership with Asia's Ivanhoe Pictures and India's Phantom Films, Blumhouse is expanding their banner overseas to make local-language genre films, with the deal specifying that at least ten movies need to be made in five years.
The plan calls for Ivanhoe to provide financial backing for the pictures with Phantom set to produce and Blumhouse involved at a creative level. Celebrated Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap (Black Friday), one of Phantom's founders, has signed on to direct one of the untitled films. We have the official press release with full details (via Collider):
"Blumhouse Productions, Ivanhoe Pictures and Phantom Films announced today that they have formed a multi-year partnership to produce local-language genre movies in India. The deal calls for the production of a minimum of ten films over five years.
Ivanhoe Pictures, the recently launched Asian focused film and television production company, will finance the films, Phantom, which is India’s first director led production house, will produce while one of its founders Anurag Kashyap, the acclaimed Indian filmmaker, will direct one of the movies and Blumhouse will help oversee the creative, bringing its expertise creating horror franchises like Paranormal Activity,The Purge, Insidious and Sinister. The films will be released in India under the Blumhouse brand, which has generated success in the area. Distribution will be announced at a later time.
Ivanhoe Picture’s co-founder and CEO John Penotti commented: “We are so pleased to be part of this extraordinary partnership. Blumhouse and Phantom are two of the film world’s most innovative and forward thinking producers of highly commercial, quality driven films in the market. We look forward to many years of productive and thrill-filled collaboration.”
Madhu Mantena, one of the founders of Phantom Films said: “We are very proud of being part of this first of its kind association in the Indian Sub Continent and couldn’t be more excited about our collaboration with the progressive creative forces of Blumhouse and Ivanhoe. Look forward to some terrifying films from India.”
Jason Blum, founder and CEO of Blumhouse said: “Ivanhoe and Phantom are the perfect partners to help create engaging, terrifying films for the rapidly growing Indian market. We are excited to bring our approach of empowering filmmakers to tell their favorite genre stories to local-language productions.”"
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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