During the Blumhouse panel at New York Comic Con 2023, filmmakers reveal details about Five Nights At Freddy’s, M3gan 2, and Night Swim.
Blumhouse NYCC Panel: M3gan 2, FNAF, & Night Swim Details
This weekend at New York Comic Con, producer Jason Blum of Blumhouse and directors Emma Tammi (Five Nights at Freddy’s) and Bryce McGuire (Night Swim) took the stage during the Blumhouse panel titled ‘Blumfest’ to tease some of the upcoming projects from Blumhouse and Atomic Monster.
Starting off the panel there was a quick conversation between Totally Killer director, Nahnatchka Khan and producer Jason Blum.
“Comedy and horror are cousins in a way” – Jason Blum
This was such an amazing analogy because as he explained further, comedy and horror both take time to build up and in some ways don’t work without each other. Blum being a veteran in the horror genre said that comedy is used to take down the audience’s guard, “…if they are expecting the scare, it’s not as scary”. He said that implementing the comedy is the perfect way to elevate scares to the next level and that is exactly what they do in Totally Killer.
In regards to Bryce McGuire’s Night Swim, McGuire and Blum went back and forth in talking about the origins of Night Swim. For those who don’t know, Night Swim was originally a horror film, released just over 8 years ago, Atomic Monster and Blumhouse have come together to make the film possible.
On stage Bryce said that “Jaws was the origin”. From the trailer alone, the parallels are evident. He stated another huge inspiration being Creature from the Black Lagoon and that is a very exciting comparison due to the monster in the film. When talking about his personal life inspirations he talked about some core childhood fears that shaped the making of the short film.
“If I can’t see the bottom of the pool its not there” – Bryce McGuire
From the marco polo game seen in the trailer some personal inspiration is definitely evident because it is a fear we all have. Jason had some great input on the filmmaking behind the movie, talking about how well the merger between Atomic Monster, run by James Wan, and Blumhouse is going.
Night Swim was originally acquired by Atomic Monster and according to Blum when James Wan pitched the film to Blumhouse he talked about his personal fears after watching the short film.
“He said he was swimming and peeked his head out of the water, swearing he saw the creature from the film” – Jason Blum
According to Blum, James Wan said, “that’s when I knew this had to be a movie”. A lot of what Blum said about the film was filmmaker based which makes sense as Blumhouse’s priority is director led creativity.
“Studios try to please every audience not just the fans, this movie is just for the fans and if other people come that’s cool but it’s FOR the fans” – Jason Blum
When talking about what makes the Five Nights at Freddy’s adaptation so unique, Blum mentioned how fan led the film was. He threw a jab at the fans saying anything he tweeted for the last 8 years would only lead to replies about Five Nights at Freddy’s but that helped him realize this film could only be made for fans. He as well as the director knew that they couldn’t put half effort in for the fans.
Five Nights at Freddy’s director, Emma Tammi, also revealed that she played the game after hearing about the project and was immediately engrossed. She said that the atmosphere specifically sucked her into the world, she wanted to be able to create and elevate that level of anticipation in the film. Nearing the end of the panel, Blum went ahead and talked about some future projects for Blumhouse.
“We might have to wake up The Purge again” – Jason Blum
When asked about a movie that’s success surprised him he mentioned The Purge but also how he wants to see the universe back in action. Blumhouse isn’t known for creating universes but they do have a sequel to M3GAN, M3GAN 2, coming in 2024. Though Blum didn’t spend too much time talking about the sequel he poked fun at the fanbase saying that they still aren’t looking to do a sequel to Get Out.
“The second you have a formula you lose it… when we try and do sequels we try to do something new and unique” – Jason Blum
Not revealing too much, Blum still teased that since sequels are few and far between for Blumhouse, they want to make sure they put their best foot forward, meaning no formula, and a unique concept at the base.
NEXT: Five Nights At Freddy’s Filmmakers Talk Lore & Animatronics
Aryan is an aspiring content creator and journalist who loves all genres of movies. He is passionate about discussing and having conversations about anything and everything pop culture related.