As part of its first-ever The Business of Fear event today in Hollywood, examining the growing power of horror subgenres, Blumhouse announced that it is developing a film adaptation of the popular and acclaimed paranormal horror game Phasmophobia. 

Since its early access launch in 2020, Phasmophobia has surpassed 23 million in global sales and has become a genre-defining title in multiplayer horror gaming. Its unique blend of immersive paranormal investigation and co-operative gameplay has cultivated a passionate global community and earned critical acclaim, including the Best Debut Game award at The 2020 Game Award while PC Gamer called it “the best ghost game ever made.” The film will be produced by Blumhouse and Atomic Monster in association with Kinetic Games Limited, based on the video game Phasmophobia by Kinetic Games Limited.

The Paranormal subgenre represents one of the 24 thriving subgenres Blumhouse identified in a research study* last year that aimed to assess the state of horror. Additional examples include Survival, Slasher, Psychological Thriller, and more. During its first The Business of Fear event today, Blumhouse CEO/Founder Jason Blum and President Abhijay Prakash, Atomic Monster’s Alyona Glasthal and horror analyst/author Stephen Follows spoke about the ways in which horror has grown and expanded in recent years, with subgenres an important way to entertain the diverse tastes of its audience.

*The 2024 Genre Categorization Survey (2,000 respondents) aimed to classify 100 prominent horror films from the past 50 years into sub-genres. This research was conducted by Sage Outcomes and commissioned by Blumhouse in July 2024.