Jason Blum Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

It’s been a quite a year for movies so far, and filmgoers are hoping that the fall and holiday season theatrical releases can live up to the one-two punch of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” in July. So far in 2023, horror has been strong with entries like “M3GAN” and “Talk to Me,” with fans looking forward to “Saw X” in September and “The Exorcist: Believer” in October.

Amazon on Monday morning unveiled a series of first-look stills for Totally Killer, its horror-comedy starring Kiernan Shipka (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), which debuts on Prime Video October 6th.

Powerhouse horror producer Jason Blum has addressed the passing of William Friedkin, the iconic filmmaker whose 1973 classic The Exorcist is the basis for a forthcoming trilogy his company Blumhouse is producing for Universal.

Last week Billy Ray frightened everyone with the disruptive potential of AI by interviewing the technology and having it respond in the familiar voices of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. In his Week 14 outing, Ray pivots. On a day when the WGA and AMPTP plan to return to the bargaining table just short of the 100 days it took to settle the last strike, Ray explores ways that both sides can find common ground in a future that nurtures an ecosystem that will perpetuate and reward creative growth, leading to a renaissance that will be profitable for all. He’s got a killer panel to parse the issue, three guests who have had outsized success in their domains: The Matrix series co-director Lilly Wachowski, The Last of Us and Chernobyl’s Craig Mazin, and Blumhouse principal Jason Blum, whose trajectory came from an inventive formula that involves transparency, and artists who bet on themselves and share mightily in success. It’s an electric exchange of ideas to heal the rifts between artists and commerce-minded studios, one that might have then rowing in the same directing, toward better and more imaginative film and TV.

EXCLUSIVE: Horror studio Blumhouse and natural history producer Plimsoll Productions have teamed up on a new factual series.

EXCLUSIVE: Alix West Lefler (The Good Nurse and Riverdale) is set to appear as a supporting lead in Blumhouse’s upcoming remake of the Danish thriller, Speak No Evil. Universal has set a theatrical release of Aug. 9, 2024.

Insidious: The Red Door brings a sense of finality to the supernatural horror franchise.This fifth installment brings back series staples Patrick Wilson, Ty Simpkins, Andrew Astor and Rose Byrne, alongside newcomers Hiam Abbass and Sinclair Daniel.Along with reprising his role of Josh Lambert, Wilson makes his directorial debut with Insidious: The Red Door, from a screenplay by Scott Teems.This fifth entry is set 10 years after the ending of Insidious: Chapter 2, as Josh Lambert (Wilson) drops off his son Dalton (Simpkins) at an ivy-league university. Insidious: The Red Door is a direct sequel to the first two films, with the third and fourth entries, Insidious: Chapter 3 and Insidious: The Last Key, serving as prequels to the first film.An official synopsis for Insidious: The Red Door, reads: “Set 10 years after the ending events of the second film, Josh Lambert heads east to drop his son Dalton off at an idyllic, ivy-league university.

Insidious: The Red Door brings a sense of finality to the supernatural horror franchise.Directed by Patrick Wilson, who also returns as Josh Lambert, the franchise’s fifth installment brings back fellow original cast members Ty Simpkins, Andrew Astor, Rose Byrne and Lin Shayne for what’s billed as the Lambert family’s “final chapter”.The film also stars newcomers Hiam Abbass and Sinclair Daniel, from a screenplay by Scott Teems.A sequel to Insidious: The Red Door has not been announced. Speaking to DiscussingFilm, producer Jason Blum explained the fifth installment will be the last we’ll see of the franchise for a “while”.“It may not be a forever rest, but it’s certainly going to be a very long rest,” Blum said.

Believe it or not, it’s already been 10 years since the release of James DeMonaco’s breakout hit, “The Purge.” The micro-budget horror film would go on to earn a massive box office and devoted fanbase, spawning four sequels and multi-season TV series. And in honor of the film’s 10th Anniversary, DeMonaco joins The Playlist Podcast to talk about his 2013 hit and how a fractured country inspired him to make a film about people killing each other for sport.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Kevin Bacon is attached to star in a new Blumhouse Television series that has been ordered straight-to-series at Amazon’s Prime Video, Variety has learned. The action series is titled “The Bondsman.” The official logline states that it centers on Hub Halloran (Bacon), “a backwoods bounty hunter who comes back from the dead with an unexpected second chance at life, love, and a nearly-forgotten musical career — only to find that his old job now has a demonic new twist.” Amazon has ordered eight half-hour episodes. Production on the series will not begin until all guild negotiations have been resolved.

Kevin Bacon is fronting another television series.

Patrick Wilson is making the Insidious: The Red Door premiere a family affair!

There will be a lot of new faces in the room at the next meeting of the Board Of Governors of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences including actor Lou Diamond Phillips. Eleven first timers have been elected in the organizations annual election to select one third of the Board as eleven other members have termed off including Actors Branch Governor Whoopi Goldberg and Writers Branch Governor Larry Karaszewski. With AMPAS’ more stringent guidelines for service in place now two longtime Board members, Charles Bernstein (Music) and Jon Bloom (shorts and feature animation) are permanently off the Board, while others termed out can run again in two years.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the newly elected Board of Governors for the 2023-2024 year. Elected to the board for the first time are acclaimed actor Lou Diamond Phillips, screenwriter Dana Stevens, executive Hannah Minghella, costume designer Daniel Orlandi and more. Among the newly elected is technology executive Wendy Aylsworth, who will represent the brand new Production and Technology Branch. Aylsworth, who also serves on the Board of Governors for the Television Academy, spent more than two decades at Warner Bros. and became the first woman president of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.

Colman Domingo stars in the trailer for AMC’s upcoming travel series ”You Are Here.” As host of the show, Domingo shares personal and national stories as he takes viewers through four American cities: Savannah, Philadelphia, New York and Chicago. The first two episodes premiere on June 19 at 7 p.m. Domingo is an award-winning actor, writer and director. He has directed episodes of “Fear of the Walking Dead” and starred in the 2021 “Candyman.” “You Are Here” is produced by Domingo’s Edith Production and ZeroPointZero, and it was created in partnership with Johnnie Walker. Watch the trailer below.

Justina Machado stars in The Horror of Dolores Roach, the new series on Amazon’s Prime Video dropping July 7. A trailer for the eight-episode series was released (which you can see above) and it previews the capabilities of Dolores Roach’s “magic hands.”

William Earl Over five low-budget box office hits and a two-season TV series, “The Purge” saga — which portrays a not-too-distant-future America where all crimes, including murder, are legal for one night a year in order to satiate a bloodthirsty public — swelled into a $450 million franchise. But the first chapter was almost never made. While the film became the defining hit of writer and director James DeMonaco’s career, he says the script was passed over “40-50 times” for being seen as “too anti-American.” “I had this little, strange, dark indictment of American gun culture,” he said. “I hate guns. To me, the scariest thing in the world would be a night where everyone was armed and it was legal to use these firearms. To me, there was nothing scarier than that notion.”

William Earl While Hollywood was on pause during the worst of the pandemic, Rob Savage’s quick thinking and creativity inspired him to make two movies on the fly. The British writer-director shot his independent film “Host” at the beginning of COVID-19 restrictions, with cast and crew using Zoom and self-taping to tell the spine-chilling tale of a socially distanced seance. The $100K film hit horror streamer Shudder to wide acclaim in July 2020 — fans were impressed by the creative scares and resourceful special effects produced with limited resources. Savage’s follow-up, 2021’s “Dashcam,” was largely filmed on the titular device and follows a COVID-skeptic, MAGA-loving YouTuber who drives around London trying to escape from evil. Although still microbudget fare, it got the attention of Blumhouse’s Jason Blum, was a producer on the project.

Nicholas Cage’s latest role isn’t in a film, or even a TV series.

Nicholas Cage’s latest role isn’t in a film, or even a TV series.

Sasha Urban editorAfter first being announced in 2015, the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie is finally pulling back the curtain. Universal has released the first teaser for the Blumhouse horror film, giving viewers their first look at how the popular survival horror video game’s terrifying animatronics will be brought to life.“Five Nights at Freddy’s” is based on the video game franchise created by Scott Cawthon, which released its first entry in 2014 and quickly rocketed to massive popularity. The game sees players in various locations tied to the fictional pizza restaurant “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.” Throughout the different games, players are tasked with surviving the onslaught of hostile animatronic characters inside the haunted Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza restaurant, using security cameras, lights and doors to survey the area.

EXCLUSIVE: Blumhouse’s Jeff Wadlow-directed horror movie Imaginary will be released by Lionsgate on February 2. It’s the first time in quite some time that the two studios have teamed up.

Locarno Film Festival will honor French-Danish producer Marianne Slot with its Raimondo Rezzonico Award, given to figures who have played a major role in international production, at its 76th edition running from August 2 to 12.

Producer Jason Blum and filmmaker David Gordon Green delivered the first footage from their new Exorcist sequel to CinemaCon this afternoon, titled Exorcist: Believer.

Refresh for updates The studio that owns the highest grossing movie of the year so far, Universal with its billion bound Super Mario Bros Movie, brought the stars and filmmakers to CinemaCon. Could we expect anything less?

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Diners at Las Vegas’ many buffets may want to skip the split pea soup — a new trailer for “The Exorcist” shook the audience at Caesar’s Palace to its core on Wednesday. The rebooted franchise from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse debuted its first trailer to the annual convention of movie theater owners on Wednesday. The new saga is led by Tony and Grammy award winner Leslie Odom Jr. (“Hamilton”) and Ellen Burstyn, who reprises the role of Chris MacNeil from the 1973 original directed by William Friedken. The first “Exorcist” was a critical and commercial phenomenon, following two priests trying to rid an innocent girl of a nasty demonic possession.

Blumhouse’s The Horror of Dolores Roach is set to premiere on July 7 via Prime Video.

McKinley Franklin editor It looks like some demons are harder to get rid of than others.  The first official trailer for the fifth installment of the mainstay horror franchise “Insidious” reveals a new demonic side of the jinxed Lambert family. “Insidious: The Red Door” picks up 10 years after “Insidious: Chapter 2,” showcasing some familiar faces from its predecessors. At the end of the second movie, it seems as though the Lambert family has shed their satanic visions. Fast forward to the modern day, Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Dalton Lambert (Ty Simpkins) are back to face a new set of problems — like Dalton’s first year at college and a fresh group of nightmarish monsters.

After working together on the combined half billion-plus grossing hits, Split and Glass, James McAvoy and Blumhouse are reteaming for a remake of Danish thriller, Speak No Evil. James Watkins (The Woman in Black) will direct from his script. Universal has set a theatrical release of Aug. 9, 2024.

Issa Lopez is the new showrunner of “True Detective: Night Country.” The beloved anthology series is back for another round, this time, with Jodie Foster and Kali Reis in the lead roles.Matthew McConaughey reveals he and Woody Harrelson could be brothersKristen Stewart talks about the time when Nicole Kidman gave her walkie talkies for ChristmasA post shared by Issa López (@issitalopez)“True Detective: Night Country” is set in Alaska. Foster plays detective Liz Danvers, investigating a case where six men vanished without leaving a trace. The series is produced by Academy Award winner Barry Jenkins and by Foster herself.