‘Insidious 2’ Sets Box-Office Record; Producer Reveals Success Formula With More Sequels To Come For Low Budget Horror Films

The producer of this week's box office champion "Insidious 2" reveals the formula they use to succeed. As the movie marks a box office achievement,  he also reveals more sequels for their 'micro-budget' horror movies.

Insidious 2 has earned 41.1 million$ last weekend which made it the second highest earning September released movie of all time.  Producer Jason Blum and his production outfit, Blumhouse has produced box-office winners on a 'micro budget' (5million or less). Some of his merits aside from the Insidious series are "Paranormal Activity" which spawned three sequels and "The Purge" which is also due for a sequel.

Jason Blum had an interview with Indiewire. On whether the 5million dollar limit is mandatory: "I wouldn't quite put it like that. Occasionally I'll be a producer for hire on a larger budget movie, but with Blumhouse Pictures we mainly focus on micro-budget, under $5 million dollar movies. That's what we're in business to do and that's what we're in business to make."

On "Insidious 2" and it's budget (5M, increased from 1.5M for the first installment): "Compared to the first one, even at $5 million, it felt bigger and broader. I've said this a lot, but I fundamentally believe that the higher the budget of a movie, the less risks you can take -- unless, obviously, you're one of five anointed directors who can do anything with any budget. One day hopefully I'll be lucky enough to work with one of those people, but until then we're all constrained to a certain degree by budget, and the bigger the budget the less creative freedom you have."

It was also suspected that the reason why they make sequels is because of their low budget. Blum contends that money is not the prime consideration. He elaborates: "Well, for me there are a lot of parallels between doing a sequel and doing low budget movies, which is they give creative parameters. As a creative person myself, I work better with parameters as opposed to anything goes. Sequels force you to work creatively so that you don't make a movie that people go into and say "That was so original, why was that a sequel? That should have just been it's own movie. It had nothing to do with the first movie."

Blum maintains that it's all about making great films. The low budget is their way to keep creative freedom from the executives. Well played, and the formula for success is something worth emulating