From Paranormal Activity to Insidious, Blumhouse Productions is known for its horror franchises, and when a film of theirs does as well commercially as Get Out, you’d usually expect a sequel to be inevitable. Studio head Jason Blum, however, is in no hurry to crank out a follow-up.
Speaking to Variety, the producer said that he’d only think about making a Get Out 2 if it was something that writer-director Jordan Peele was genuinely passionate about.
“The only way I would work is if Jordan Peele came up with an idea,” Blum said. “There’s no other way there could be a sequel to Get Out because it would stain the quality of the first movie. The only way I would touch it is if the person who created it wanted to. And I’m not going to encourage or discourage him, I have not and would not put pressure on him to do it again. It would have to totally come from him.”
While it may come as a surprise to hear this from a producer as sequel-happy as Blum, it’s understandable that he’d make an exception with Get Out. Though plenty of Blumhouse flicks have been released over the years to both box office success and critical acclaim, Peele’s film is that rare example of a horror movie that has also thrived as a prestige picture, managing to earn four Oscar nominations and even taking home Best Screenplay.
In that sense, Get Out doesn’t belong in the same category as Sinister or Ouija, earning the respect of certain viewers who usually wouldn’t give horror a second thought. And just as Blumhouse isn’t likely to bring in some director-for-hire to make Whiplash 2, it seems that Blum is refraining from messing with Peele’s baby for fear of turning it into just another franchise flick, cheapening the film’s public image in the process.
Yes, it’s all a little snobbish, but perhaps we should just be glad that Get Out is one horror flick that’s unlikely to be dishonored with inferior sequels anytime soon. By contrast, since Halloween was a property that had endured decades of tampering before Blumhouse got involved, it looks like a sequel to David Gordon Green’s hit slasher movie is on the way, regardless of whether or not the director stays on board. As for Peele, the filmmaker’s working again with Blum on his sophomore feature Us, which hits theaters on March 15th, 2019.
