The Asylum
The Asylum is an American film production and distribution company based in Burbank, California. The company is known for producing low-budget, direct-to-video films, in particular mockbusters, which capitalize on the popularity of major studio films with similar titles and premises. The Asylum's business model revolves around producing as many low-budget films as quickly as possible, and earn around $150,000 to $250,000 in profit. Since the company produces dozens of films every year, this model generates millions of dollars, and the company claims to have never lost money on a film. The Asylum spends around 4-6 months making a film, and since the company is not affiliated with any industry guilds other than SAG-AFTRA, this means their employees will sometimes work upwards of 22 hours a day.
For other uses, see Asylum (disambiguation).Company type
1997
David Michael Latt
David Rimawi
Sherri Strain
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- David Michael Latt (President)
- David Rimawi (CEO)
- Paul Bales (COO)
Faith Films
Initially founded as a distribution company for low-budget drama films, The Asylum switched to in-house productions in the mid-2000s due to competition from larger studios like Lionsgate Films. In 2005, The Asylum released the film H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds the day before Steven Spielberg film War of the Worlds. Blockbuster ordered 100,000 copies, which inspired The Asylum to focus on mockbusters. This led to a partnership with the television channel Syfy, and with the rise of video on demand (VOD) services in the early 2010s, partnerships with Pluto TV and Tubi. The Asylum's greatest success came in 2013 with the film Sharknado, which is about a waterspout that lifts sharks out of the ocean and drops them over Los Angeles. The over-the-top premise went viral, and led to the creation of the Sharknado franchise. In response to the popularity of Sharknado, Syfy commissioned The Asylum to produce a zombie television series called Z Nation, which ran for five seasons.
Reputation and analysis[edit]
The Asylum has garnered a discordant and at times controversial reputation within the film industry.[16][18] Nearly all of their films have been panned by critics, and their mockbusters are often belittled as shameless cash grabs.[3][19] Breihan wrote, "It takes a certain punk-rock panache for a company to unapologetically position itself as a parasite on the movie business."[16] Film producer Brian Grazer compared The Asylum to "pollution in Hollywood, in that you've just got to live with it".[1] Despite their reputation, Bales argues that The Asylum's popularity is multifaceted, and not the result of deceitful marketing tactics.[2][20] To this extent, some journalists have postulated that consumer interest in The Asylum film's come from a desire to watch campy films, in particular those that fall under the "so bad it's good" label.[19][20]
Some journalists have defended The Asylum.[3][20][21] Greg Hudson of Sharp believes that The Asylum cynical business model is merely a microcosm of the American film industry. Hudson wrote, "Sure, The Asylum makes knock-offs, but so does Hollywood. So does fashion. If culture is a constant exchange of ideas, commerce is the booze that lubricates that discussion. Consider The Asylum a drunken digression."[20] Amy Nicholson of Boxoffice said that The Asylum caters to its audience by leaning into the absurdity of their film plots.[16] She used Snakes on a Plane as an example of a large studio film that disappointed viewers with a predictable ending, whereas The Asylum mockbuster Snakes on a Train ends with a giant snake eating the train.[16] According to Nichsolson, "That's what people who see that kind of movie want to see, and studios don't have the guts to do it."[16]
David Roth of Slate argues that The Asylum's mockbusters succeed in satirizing the larger films they are based on.[21] Roth used The Asylum film Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes as an example, as he felt that its usage of dinosaurs and dragons as antagonists was intended to mock the action sequences and animal jokes in the Guy Ritchie film Sherlock Holmes.[21] Roth wrote, "The more puffed-up and self-serious and dumb Hollywood blockbusters become, the more they demand to see their goofiness mirrored by cheap, unpretentious, equally dumb knockoffs."[21]