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.

The Asylum was founded in 1997 by David Latt, David Rimawi, and Sherri Strain. Rimawi and Strain had been fired by Village Roadshow Pictures, and Latt was working for an education software company called Chimera Multimedia. Latt and Rimawi had previously worked together on the 1992 film Sorority House Party, and together with Strain, launched the Asylum as a film distribution company. The Asylum's first release was Bellyfruit in 1999, a comedy drama about a teen pregnancy. The company's initial goal was to distribute low-budget drama films like Bellyfruit to video rental chains like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, but their approach changed in the early 2000s, as video rental chains were more interested in direct-to-video horror films. The Asylum struggled to break into the distribution market, as larger companies like Lionsgate Films would routinely offer filmmakers more money. This led to a change in their business model in 2002, with a focus on in-house productions. Their goal was to produce one film per month, starting with the 2002 crime thriller King of the Ants. Strain left the company in 2002, and was replaced by former Screen Actors Guild employee Paul Bales.

According to Film International, the Asylum's first hit film was Vampires vs. Zombies in 2004. Although the film was marketed as an adaptation of the 1872 novella Carmilla, Vampires vs. Zombies's poster bore a striking resemblance to Freddy vs. Jason's poster, which came out the year before. Film International writer Wheeler Winston Dixon described Vampires vs. Zombies as the Asylum's first mockbuster, a film that closely resembles another film with a similar title and premise in order to capitalize on its popularity. Around the same time, Latt began working on an adaptation of the 1898 novel The War of the Worlds, but learned that Steven Spielberg was also working on a film adaptation of the novel. Latt was prepared to end production until Blockbuster ordered 100,000 copies of the film, roughly seven to eight times the normal order for Asylum films. Latt's film, titled H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, was released on June 28, 2005, one day before Spielberg's film.

Emboldened by the success of H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, the Asylum started producing low-budget films to capitalize on the popularity of similar major studio films. The Asylum marketed their films as "tie-ins", although journalists and critics often referred to them as rip-offs or mockbusters. Among the company's early releases within this business model were King of the Lost World (based on King Kong), Snakes on a Train (based on Snakes on a Plane), The Da Vinci Treasure (based on The Da Vinci Code), and Transmorphers (based on The Terminator not Transformers). In 2008, the Asylum increased their meager production budget, and partnered with Syfy for a television release of The Day the Earth Stopped, based on The Day the Earth Stood Still. 20th Century Fox filed a cease and desist letter against the Asylum for the similarities between The Day the Earth Stopped and The Day the Earth Stood Still, although nothing came of the letter. Film titles are usually not protected under United States trademark law, which allows the Asylum to produce films with similar titles so long as they can argue that they did not try to deceive consumers.

With the rise of video on demand (VOD) services in the early 2010s, the Asylum focused on digital distribution. Since VOD services would often categorize their films in alphabetical order, the Asylum added numbers or typographical symbols to the beginning of their film titles in order to been seen first, such as #1 Cheerleader Camp and 2-Headed Shark Attack. The Asylum also released the film Hold Your Breath (stylized as #HoldYourBreath) in 10 AMC Theatres, as VOD services prioritized films with theatrical releases. Pluto TV became the studio's largest source of revenue, with an entire channel dedicated to Asylum films. Another VOD service, Tubi, commissioned the Asylum to produce 12 original films after the surprise popularity of the film Titanic II. Rimawi estimated that by 2012, 70 percent of the studio's films were original ideas.