The Asylum

The Asylum is an American independent film production and distribution company based in Burbank, California. It produces low-budget direct-to-video films, in particular mockbusters, which capitalize on the popularity of major studio films with similar titles and premises.

The Asylum produces as many low-budget films as quickly as possible, which earn around $150,000 to $250,000 in profit. It produces dozens of films each year and generates millions of dollars, and says it has never lost money on a film. The Asylum spends around four to six months making a film, and as it is not affiliated with any industry guilds other than SAG-AFTRA, their employees will sometimes work up to 22 hours a day.

Initially founded as a distribution company for low-budget drama films, the Asylum switched to in-house productions in the mid-2000s due to competition from larger studios such as Lionsgate Films. In 2005, the Asylum released the film H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds the day before Steven Spielberg film War of the Worlds. Blockbuster ordered 100,000 copies, which inspired the Asylum to focus on mockbusters. This led to a partnership with the television channel Syfy, and later, with the rise of video on demand (VOD) services in the early 2010s, partnerships with Pluto TV and Tubi.

The Asylum's greatest success came in 2013 with the film Sharknado, about a waterspout that lifts sharks out of the ocean and drops them over Los Angeles. The over-the-top premise went viral, and led to the creation of the Sharknado franchise. In response to the popularity of Sharknado, Syfy commissioned the Asylum to produce the zombie television series Z Nation, which ran for five seasons.