Blumhouse's upcoming horror films have been remakes of films that have impacted the film industry like The Exorcist and Halloween. At CinemaCon, it was revealed that Blumhouse would revive The Blair Witch Project considering it’s one of the best found footage movies of all time. But as OG Blair Witch Project crew member Ben Rock said, the last sequels failed to “connect” with audiences which is why he took it upon himself to give Blumhouse some cautionary advice for reviving the franchise.
The 1999 supernatural horror film The Blair Witch Project was a massive success thanks to the creative geniuses of Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. It became a sleeper hit and one of the most profitable indie films with a gross of nearly $250 million worldwide. Unfortunately, the sequels that followed didn’t do so hot as 2000’s Book of Shadows was a followup that never should have been made, banking only $47.7 million. Blair Witch bombed at the box office too at $45.2 million. Production designer of the OG hit, Ben Rock, spoke to THR about his theory on why the sequels didn’t “connect” with audiences.
I do think that what has happened twice now was that the original creators were overlooked, and other people were brought in, all of whom were good. But neither one of the sequels connected with audiences the way they wanted it to connect. And so it might at least be worth talking to some of the original creators.
What helps a sequel become a success truly is when the original people are invited to talks about what people love about the original. After The Blair Witch Project became a huge success, Artisan wanted to take advantage of the found footage film’s popularity and produce a sequel. But, Haxan Films who were responsible for the original wanted to wait until the buzz died down. So, Artisan bought the film rights and went on without Haxan to create Book of Shadows.
Considering this sequel got mediocre reviews and bombed at the box office, Ben Rock hopes Blumhouse will speak to The Blair Witch Projects OG crew members before going forth with production.
I understand that you can be too close to something, and maybe an outside perspective is helpful, but in aggregate, it didn’t work. They didn’t make the hit that they wanted to make. I’m hoping Blumhouse isn’t like, ‘Hey, let’s go reboot this without talking to anybody [from the first one].’ But they haven’t talked to any of us.
While celebrating its tenth anniversary in 2009, creator Daniel Myrick did say he had hope for more films as long as sequels respect the mythology he and Eduardo Sánchez made. All the more reason why Artisan’s sequel failed in not involving the original filmmakers in the sequel project and having very little to do with the clever mythology they created.
Ben Rock wasn’t the only Blair Witch Project OG member hurt to be left out of the franchise’s future films. One of the film’s leads Joshua Leonard took to Facebook to express his frustration of not being told Blumhouse was remaking the franchise. He instead found out through a friend who sent him a media report of the announcement that had his picture in it.
Using Joshua Leonard’s face without his permission to announce the upcoming horror film is similar to a legal battle the actor previously faced with Artisan Entertainment. He revealed he and his other co-stars had to file a lawsuit against Artisan for profiting off their names and likeness without their permission considering they were a huge reason for The Blair Witch Project’s profitability. They each only won a reported $300,000 compared to allegations they were paid $4 million.
Based on Ben Rock and Joshua Leonard’s claims, the cautionary advice for the franchise's success going forward is to involve The Blair Witch Project's OG creators. Rock said he has no idea if a modern-day found footage film will connect with today’s audiences, but he sees hope as long as his film’s creative team is included in future conversations to know what made the sleeper hit awesome. Until then, you can watch the first film of the franchise that started it all for free on The Roku Channel and your Amazon Prime subscription.
