The Asylum

Type	Film/TV DVD Distribution
Founded	1997
Founder(s)	David Michael Latt David Rimawi Sherri Strain
Headquarters	Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States
Owner(s)	Privately held
Divisions	Faith Films
Website	www.TheAsylum.cc

The Asylum is an American film studio and distributor which focuses on producing low-budget, usually direct-to-video productions. The studio is best known for producing titles which appear to capitalize on productions by major studios. These titles have been dubbed "mockbusters" by the press.^[1][2][3]

[edit] History

The Asylum was founded by former Village Roadshow executives David Rimawi, Sherri Strain, and director David Michael Latt in 1997.^[1][4][5][6] The company focused on producing straight-to-video low-budget films, usually in the horror genre, but were unable to find a market due to competition from major studios, such as Lions Gate Entertainment.^[1] In 2005, the company produced a low-budget adaptation of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, which was released in the same year as Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the same material. Blockbuster Inc. ordered 100,000 copies of The Asylum's adaptation, a significantly larger order than any of the company's previous releases, resulting in Latt and Rimawi reconsidering their business model.^[1]

The Asylum became known in 2007 when similarities between the distributor's titles and those of major studios were reported. For example, the film Transmorphers, bears a number of similarities to the film Transformers, which was released theatrically two days after the release of Transmorphers.^[1][2] According to Latt, "I'm not trying to dupe anybody. I'm just trying to get my films watched. Other people do tie-ins all the time; they’re just better at being subtle about it. Another studio might make a giant robot movie that ties into the Transformers release and call it Robot Wars. We’ll call ours Transmorphers."^[1] In 2008, 20th Century Fox threatened legal action against The Asylum over The Day the Earth Stopped, a film believed to capitalize on The Day the Earth Stood Still.^[7]

[edit] Output

The Asylum's usual budget for a production is reportedly "well under a million dollars", and it typically breaks even after about three months.^[8] The studio's productions have been called B movies^[1] and "mockbusters".^[1][3] Latt prefers the term "tie-ins" to "mockbusters",^[1] stating that The Asylum's productions, even those that capitalize on major releases, contain original stories.^[1] Latt states that the studio plans its productions around the word of mouth of the financial prospects of upcoming films.^[3] The studio's films are usually released on video shortly before the theatrical release of a major studio film with similar themes or storylines.^[3]

The Asylum has also produced films with strong religious themes.^[1] For example, The Apocalypse was initially developed as a straightforward disaster film in the style of Deep Impact, but Latt states that certain buyers wanted the company to develop a religious film.^[1] As a result, the company consulted priests and rabbis in order to incorporate faith-based elements.^[1] The division Faith Films was created in order to distribute titles with such themes.^[1]

The Asylum productions sometimes feature more overt sexuality or graphic violence than their major studio counterparts, because The Asylum's releases are not in competition with films rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America.^[3] Rolf Potts of The New York Times described Transmorphers as having "no recognizable actors, no merchandising tie-ins and a garbled sound mix. Also unlike Transformers, it has cheap special effects and a subplot involving lesbians."^[1]

Films released by The Asylum have sometimes involved well-known figures. For example, the 2008 release Death Racers featured the hip hop group Insane Clown Posse and wrestler Scott "Raven" Levy in major roles.^[9]

[edit] List of mockbusters

|}

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website
• The Asylum at the Internet Movie Database