17 Apr – The team of the 1999 found footage hit, "The Blair Witch Project" recently expressed frustration over not being informed of an upcoming reboot by Lionsgate and Blumhouse. Following the announcement by Lionsgate at the CinemaCon last week, several behind-the-scenes members of the original film took to social media and the media to express their sadness over finding out about the reboot through the news.
"It's bittersweet, honestly," said Ben Rock, who was the production designer of the movie. He added that nobody from the original film, including co-directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez were called to get involved in any of the previous instalments and that the same thing seemed to be happening here once again. "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," he said.
Prior to Rock, former co-producer of the original movie tagged Jason Blum of Blumhouse as well as Lionsgate, writing, "Radical idea: You could try putting this project in the hands of the original team that made the first one. You know, the team that actually has an entire franchise plan to reinvent what a "Blair Witch" movie could be?" Original lead actor Joshua Leonard also expressed frustration over the news, especially with his image being used to announce the news. He said, "So, this is MY face on a press release for a film being made by two major studios - both I've worked for, both I respect. The WEIRD PART is that I didn't know anything about it until a friend sent me a 'congrats' screenshot yesterday." "I'm so proud of our little punk-rock movie, and I LOVE the fans who keep the flames burning. But at this point, it's 25 years of disrespect from the folks who've pocketed the lion's share (pun intended) of the profits from OUR work, and that feels both icky and classless," he added. "The Blair Witch Project" was a big hit when it was released in cinemas back in 1999, earning USD 248.6 million at the box office after being made with a meagre USD 200,000 budget.