The Blair Witch Project is one of the most influential horror films of all time, and ahead of its new reboot, the original cast is requesting some protections before the new film enters production.
The Blair Witch Project is well renowned, critically acclaimed and undeniably iconic. The film debuted in theatres in 1999 and revived the found footage horror genre as well as inspiring franchises such as Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield.
The fictional film follows a group of three documentarians who venture into the Maryland wilderness, encountering artifacts while interviewing citizens about the mythical Blair Witch. It was produced on a minimal budget that is rumoured to range between $200k to $750k and grossed an impressive $248.6 million.
In 2003, Lionsgate purchased and merged with Artisan Entertainment, the production studio behind The Blair Witch Project, which is why the casts new qualms regarding their protections are now directed towards the Hunger Games studio rather than Artisan, in which they previously sued over a likeness dispute.
The faces of the film and its viral marketing campaign consisted of Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams and now the trio are looking to confront Lionsgate over residual payments and consultation on upcoming projects (including the upcoming Blumhouse reboot).
In a series of posts on Facebook, the film’s stars have expressed a series of requests that include proper residual payments in line with the standards proposed by SAG-AFTRA. When the film was in production, the actors were not members of any unions and therefore did not have proper protection regarding payments and working conditions. As a result, they’re looking to amend this.
Next, they demand a requirement that the developers of the next instalments in the franchise (films, television, gaming, toys, literature) must consult the actors to use their likeness in any official capacity (within the film and outside of the film — marketing for example).
The stars also iterate that past instalments that followed the original were disappointments critically and financially and reflected poorly on the stars despite having no involvement. It is also their belief that their involvement in such an endeavour could be beneficial for the studio as well as audiences.
And finally, they demand that Lionsgate initiates a yearly grant to be given out to unknown indie filmmakers. These grants would amount to $60k per annum and reflect the original budget of the first film. This grant would not give Lionsgate any sort of ownership over the property.
Despite being a key aspect in the most influential horror film of the early 2000s, it’s sad that the cast finds themselves discontent with their agreement with the production studio. It can only be hoped that this situation is resolved before the next entry in the saga releases.
The Blair Witch Project starred Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams who played fictionalized versions of themselves. The film went on to spawn two sequels. Recently at CinemaCon 2024, it was announced that a new film was in development at Blumhouse Productions who recently co-produced the film Imaginary with Lionsgate.
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