Blumhouse laid off six staffers across film, television and casting departments amid larger company restructuring, TheWrap has learned.
The independent studio employs around 100 people.
The staffers affected are largely junior-level executives and support staff. Amongst those affected was Haley Pigman, a creative development manager who previously worked on Blumhouse titles like “The Woman in the Yard.”
The studio has been the industry standard for consistent horror success at the box office for years, yielding high concept, low-budget hits every year and spawning multiple franchises in the process.
But for the past 18 months, the studio has suffered its first extended slump, and the sequel that was supposed to get things back on track, “M3GAN 2.0,” instead continued the trend, suffering a poor $10.2 million domestic/$17.1 million global opening weekend. None of the affected staffers worked on the film.
Next up, “The Black Phone 2,” which will be Blumhouse’s Halloween offering this year, hews closer to its predecessor’s tone than “M3GAN 2.0.” Then there’s “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” the sequel to Blumhouse’s highest-grossing film ever, which hits theaters during the customarily dead period for theaters in early December.
The next non-franchise film on its list comes next May with “Incidents Around the House,” an adaptation of the 2024 paranormal horror novel from “Bird Box” author Josh Malerman starring Jessica Chastain and Jay Duplass.
Deadline first reported the news.
