The Blair Witch Project came out 25 years ago, in 1999. I thought it was wild that Footloose turns 40 this year, but I also turned 40 and therefore, it feels like every day, I’m wishing a high school or college friend a Happy 40th on Facebook. 40 just feels like par for the course at this point. A movie that I saw in theaters in high school turning 25, however, is blowing my mind. Please no one tell me how old the American Pie movies are!
Anyway, since then, there have been two reboots of the Blair Witch franchise, both of which did poorly at the box office and among critics. Lionsgate recently announced that they were partnering with production company Blumhouse to revive the franchise. I have not seen either of the sequels, but the original cast was not a part of those movies at all. And they are not happy about it. On April 20, OG stars Joshua Leonard, Michael Williams, and Rei Hance (formerly Heather Donahue) wrote an open letter to Lionsgate to ask for more compensation for the first film and “meaningful consultation” to make the reboots better. They state that they did not have “proper union or legal representation” when they made the first movie.
“Our film has now been rebooted twice, both times were a disappointment from a fan/box office/critical perspective,” the trio noted in their proposal. “Neither of these films were made with significant creative input from the original team. As the insiders who created the Blair Witch and have been listening to what fans love and want for 25 years, we’re your single greatest, yet thus-far unutilized secret-weapon!”
The group called on Lionsgate to provide them with retroactive and future residual payments “equivalent to the sum that would’ve been allotted through SAG-AFTRA (The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), had we had proper union or legal representation when the film was made.”
They also asked the studio to approach them with “meaningful consultation on any future Blair Witch reboot, sequel, prequel, toy, game, ride, escape room, etc., in which one could reasonably assume that Heather, Michael and Josh’s names and/or likenesses will be associated for promotional purposes in the public sphere.”
Last but not least, the actors want Lionsgate to launch “a 60K grant” for aspiring filmmakers. The requested sum is the same amount as the budget that the original 1999 horror film acquired, but the trio now want the studio to pay it out yearly “to an unknown/aspiring genre filmmaker to assist in making their first feature film.”
The Blair Witch Project directors Eduardo Sanchez and Dan Myrick, producers Gregg Hale and Robin Cowie, and co-producer Michael Monello also shared a statement.
“While we, the original filmmakers, respect Lionsgate’s right to monetize the intellectual property as it sees fit, we must highlight the significant contributions of the original cast — Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Mike Williams,” the statement read. “As the literal faces of what has become a franchise, their likenesses, voices, and real names are inseparably tied to The Blair Witch Project. Their unique contributions not only defined the film’s authenticity but continue to resonate with audiences around the world.”
The statement continued: “We celebrate our film’s legacy, and equally, we believe the actors deserve to be celebrated for their enduring association with the franchise.”
The Blair Witch Project grossed $248 million at the worldwide box office. It spawned two follow-ups: 2000’s poorly reviewed sequel Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, after which the actors sued Artisan Entertainment for using their names and likenesses, and 2016’s Blair Witch, a direct sequel to the original movie.
I’m going to be honest here: I didn’t love The Blair Witch Project as much as a lot of my friends did, but that’s because I wasn’t a fan of the moving camera-style in which it was shot. I felt the same way about Cloverfield nine years later. However, I did and still do appreciate the creativity and independent nature of it. At the time, it never occurred to me that the original actors could have gotten screwed, but as an adult, it does not surprise me. I had no idea that their likenesses were used without their permission for subsequent movies, either, but that also checks. This is just another example of what the WGA and SAG unions were striking for this summer. It’s f–cking gross that the people who already make millions want to screw creators, writers, and actors out of making money off of a project that was successfully directly because of *their* work. I don’t know if the Blair Witch actors will be successful with this attempt, but I hope they are.
Posted on Instagram @michaelceewilliams – too many characters for X. Too many characters in this business 🤣 We appreciate the outpouring of support!! pic.twitter.com/lqeeq1MoYK
— Michael C. Williams (@MichaelCWilli13) April 23, 2024
Photos via social media
I don’t think this will legally land but it is a shame. Those actor’s faces are used every time a new Blair Witch comes out and they don’t make anything. They weren’t even union actors at the time and they haven’t been given the opportunity to be in any sequels. They deserve to get paid.
Part if the appeal for The Blair Witch Project was the mystique and people believing it’s true right? I haven’t seen the sequels but wouldn’t the jig be up?
That was a big part of it, but I actually consider it a brilliant film. You never know for certain if the witch is real or the kids have just convinced themselves of it and they’re slowly going insane from fear. The sequels had none of that ambiguity. People love to hate on the original, but I think that has more to do with the obnoxious media culture that blew up around it.
Omg now all I will be hearing is “MIIIKEE” !!!!!!!!! all day long. That movie is fun to watch in a theater. I wish the best for them but Hollywood is not a place to seekfair treatment.
I wish them luck. But just like the music industry, a lot would have to change, for first time actors, to get fair wages and contracts.
THIS is also a great example of how nepotism works in Hollywood. How many children of famous parents did this happen to? None.
I love the YouTube channel Dead Meat, he did a great “kill count” on this movie explaining how they were hired, how they actually filmed it and touched on the fallout Heather received. For what they went through…yeah, they deserve A LOT more. Like the movie or not it’s a cultural phenomenon – not the first found footage but arguably the first mainstream one.
I’ll support the original actors while also saying that I had to keep my eyes closed during the whole movie – the camera jumping made me that nauseated and headache-y. I would have loved to have left, but I was with friends and there was nowhere to go. All I remember is a lot of shouting and panting and running feet.
Eurydice I feel your pain! I’m really sensitive to motion sickness so this was hard but it was so great to watch. I managed by sitting on the edge in the couch and physically moving myself as if I was walking around with them 😂