The groundbreaking viral marketing of The Blair Witch Project presented a single overriding narrative as an experience from which there was no way out, aligning viewers with the characters in more ways than one. The mythology created for the entirely fictional original Blair Witch Project was executed in a way that trapped spectators within a single text, using specious evidence on “outside” platforms to corroborate the truth of the inner fictional tale. While the sort of internecine misery and madness of that play is evident in the conflicts of doomed student filmmakers Heather, Josh, and Mike, there are intra-textual layers of The Blair Witch Project that contribute experiential aspects of narrative not present in the form or content of Sartre’s stage play. Upon its release in 1999 and in the years since, I’ve considered the degree to which The Blair Witch Project is a plot in the tradition of Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit. What was the aura of the first, and has it been lost? ![]() To compare aggregations of critical responses would be likewise telling on a surface level, but ultimately fail to explain what the films do, how they do it, and what distinguishes the innovative original installment from its sequels. Neither sequel achieved the box office power of Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez’ original film, which in 1999 enjoyed 17 weeks of domestic release and a worldwide gross of nearly $249 million.īut these are just the numbers. For a film with a production budget of $5 million, these numbers indicate a successful theatrical run.Īs a business product, the film compares favorably to first Blair Witch Project sequel Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000), which on a production budget of $15 million received eight weeks of domestic release and a worldwide gross of almost $48 million. In total, the foreign box office grosses ($22 million) slightly exceed the domestic ($21 million). The movie will soon enter the short limbo between theatrical and home releases. Blair Witch, the 2016 American film remake / sequel of The Blair Witch Project (1999), debuted on more than 3,000 cinema screens six weeks ago and is presently playing on fewer than 200 screens (domestically).
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