It’s quite impressive, then, that the film studio and distributer The Asylum has never lost money on a film with around 100 releases.
The company produces mainly “mockbusters,” films that capitalize on productions by major studios, usually resorting to film titles and scripts very similar to those of current blockbusters in order to lure customers.
David Latt, a director and one of the studio’s founders, prefers the term "tie-ins" to "mockbusters", stating that The Asylum's productions, even those that capitalize on major releases, contain original stories.
They typically spend “well under a million dollars” on a film and they usually break even after about three months.
Latt states that the studio plans its productions around the word of mouth of the financial prospects of upcoming films. The studio's films are usually released on video shortly before the theatrical release of a major studio film with similar themes or storylines.
Some of the more notable films this studio has produced are H.G Wells’ War of the Worlds and Sharknado.
