The 1999 found footage hit Blair Witch Project is one of the most financially successful independent films of all time. With an original budget of just $35,000 (before marketing and rights sales), the eerie horror camping trip set the box office ringing to the tune of a whopping $248 million. As if real witchcraft had been involved.
This was followed by two very different sequels with Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows and Blair Witch, which were unable to build on the success either financially or critically. And while Lionsgate is already planning the reboot with the horror company Blumhouse, the three film stars fight of the original is currently seeking recognition, as Slash Film reports. You feel painfully ignored.
Horror stars want a piece of the sweet witch’s house
Rei Hance (formerly known as Heather Donahue), Joshua Leonard and Michael C. Williams probably aren’t names you could pull off your sleeve on the spot. They were the fictionalized one Documentary team from Blair Witch Projectwhich the film’s effective marketing claimed actually went missing.
For eight days they fought their way through the forest in rural Maryland, more or less alone, for filming. For the most part, they improvised their dialogues, took over the work on the camera and reacted surprisingly authentically to all sorts of witchcraft that directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez threw at them at night.
Art house
Rei Hance in Blair Witch Project
Since the film was not a union production, they were fobbed off with a $300,000 fee/buyout each and enjoyed no involvement in the film’s success. In their 20s, that seemed like a lot of money. But now they are “greyer, grumpier, wiser and much less fearfulwhen it comes to standing up for one’s own rights and those of those who find themselves in similar compromised/exploitative situations as a result of a dehumanizing system.”
This is how Leonard describes it in his Facebook post, which is addressed as an appeal to those responsible at Lionsgate. The directors and producers of the original film also have their say there.
What are the former Blair Witch stars demanding?
Possibly inspired by the successful labor dispute of the 2023 Hollywood strike, Hance, Leonard and Williams from Lionsgate are calling for the Payment of past and future royaltiesthat they would have received if the union contract had been appropriate. In addition, they would like to be consulted and, if necessary, involved in upcoming Blair Witch projects. They also want a Blair Witch scholarship, which will support a young film project with $60,000 annually.
The supporting statement from the original filmmakers states:
As we approach the 25th anniversary of The Blair Witch Project, our pride in the story world we created is confirmed by the recent announcement of a reboot from horror icons Jason Blum and James Wan. While we, the filmmakers of the original, respect Lionsgate’s right to monetize their intellectual property as they wish, we must highlight the significant contributions of the original cast. […] We celebrate the legacy of our film and believe that actors deserve to be celebrated for their ongoing connection to the franchise.
Considering the success factor of the film, $300,000 is a comparatively low fee. Many fans will doubt that Lionsgate will allow itself to be persuaded to pay additional money to the former horror stars out of retroactive appreciation. It is not known whether the trio has already exhausted their legal options.
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Where to stream Blair Witch Project?
If you want to convince yourself of the eerie quality of the original Blair Witch film 25 years later, you can do so with a flat rate on the Amazon channel Moviecult or on MagentaTV, for example. Alternatively, it is available as a rental or purchase title on Google Play, Apple TV, Amazon and Co. Unfortunately, the three stars no longer have any of it.