Earlier this month, Lionsgate announced the revival of The Blair Witch Project franchise with a new movie. Now, in the wake of that announcement, the cast from the original film has come forward to decry “25 years of disrespect” from Lionsgate and make new demands ahead of the reboot.
Released in 1999 via Artisan Entertainment, the original Blair Witch Project starred Joshua Leonard, Heather Donahue (now named Rei Hance), and Michael Williams, who used their real names and likeness for the project. Since Artisan Entertainment was bought-out by Lionsgate in 2003, though, the cast has allegedly experienced quite a bit of disrespect, even down to being forced to go to court just to win back their own names (since their Blair Witch “characters” were IP belonging to the production house).
The announcement of the reboot last month was the straw that broke the camel’s back, though. Taking to social media, Leonard began posting details about “the absolute dehumanization that we actors have felt over the course of 25 years,” as well as Lionsgate’s continued ignoring of the cast’s efforts to make contact. “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.”
Once Leonard’s initial posts caught wind, more voices joined his calls for change. In a statement of her own, Hance described “three years of litigation” just trying to win her name back, saying “I certainly never intended a 1.5 page contract for $1k signed without an attorney or agent when I was 23 to sign me up for a lifetime of theft of my fundamental belongings — my name, image, and voice… We’ve moved on, but it seems that [Lionsgate] never will, so it’s time for them to pay us for these continued uses.”
Getting Williams involved, too — as well as many of the original film’s directors and producers, including Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez, and Gregg Hale — the group released an official letter with demands, asking for “retroactive + future residuals,” “meaningful consultation” on future Blair Witch projects, and the creation of a “Blair Witch Grant” to give a yearly $60k grant (the budget of the original) to an “unknown/aspiring genre filmmaker.”
“Our film has now been rebooted twice, both times were a disappointment from a fan/box office/critical perspective,” the letter read. “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 & want for 25 years, we’re your single greatest, yet thus-far unutilized secret-weapon!”
For their part, the producers and directors said, “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… As the literal faces of what has become a franchise, their likenesses, voices, and real names are inseparably tied to The Blair Witch Project… We celebrate our film’s legacy, and equally, we believe the actors deserve to be celebrated for their enduring association with the franchise.”
Read the full letters from the cast and the directors and producers below.
The Lionsgate reboot is expected to be produced by Jason Blum and Roy Lee. Previously, two Blair Witch sequels were released: 2000’s Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, and 2016’s Blair Witch.
Check Consequence’s retroactive analysis of The Blair Witch Project as part of our ‘99 Rewind series.
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