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The Asylum is an American independent film production company and distributor which focuses on producing low-budget, direct-to-video films. The company has produced titles 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. These titles have been dubbed "mockbusters" by the press. Its titles are distributed by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, GT Media, and as of 2015, Cinedigm. ==History== The Asylum was founded by director David Michael Latt and former Village Roadshow executives David Rimawi and Sherri Strain in 1997.〔 The company focused on producing straight-to-video low-budget films, usually in the horror genre, but were unable to find a market due to competition from major studios, such as Lions Gate Entertainment.〔 In 2005, the company produced a low-budget adaptation of H. G. Wells' ''The War of the Worlds'', which was released in the same year as Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the same material. Blockbuster Inc. ordered 100,000 copies of The Asylum's adaptation, a significantly larger order than any of the company's previous releases, resulting in Latt and Rimawi reconsidering their business model.〔〔 In 2007, similarities between the distributor's titles and those of major studios were reported. For example, the film ''Transmorphers'' bears a number of similarities to the film ''Transformers'', which was released theatrically two days after the release of ''Transmorphers''.〔〔〔 According to Latt, "I'm not trying to dupe anybody. I'm just trying to get my films watched. Other people do tie-ins all the time; they’re just better at being subtle about it. Another studio might make a giant robot movie that ties into the ''Transformers'' release and call it ''Robot Wars''. We’ll call ours ''Transmorphers''."〔 In 2008, 20th Century Fox threatened legal action against The Asylum over ''The Day the Earth Stopped'', a film capitalizing on ''The Day the Earth Stood Still''. Similarly in May 2012, Universal Pictures filed a lawsuit against The Asylum for their film ''American Battleship'', claiming infringement on their movie, ''Battleship''.〔 As a result, The Asylum changed their title to ''American Warships''. More trouble hit the studio in 2013 when Warner Bros., New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and ''The Hobbit'' producer Saul Zaentz commenced legal action against The Asylum for their film ''Age of the Hobbits'' (later called ''Lord of the Elves''), claiming that they were "free-riding" on the worldwide promotional campaign for Peter Jackson's forthcoming films. The Asylum claimed its movie is legally sound because its hobbits are not based on the J. R. R. Tolkien creations. The lawsuit resulted in a temporary restraining order preventing The Asylum from releasing the film on its scheduled release date.〔 In February 2015, The Asylum signed a multi-year deal with Cinedigm Corp; the deal provides 12 films over three years. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Asylum」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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