Continuing on the topic of social media and independent cinema I wanted to write a post about The Blair Witch Project. The Blair Witch Project was released in 1999 and went on to gross over $248 million worldwide, making it the most successful independent film at the time. The first rough cut of the movie was made for only $20,000. The film premiered at The Sundance Film Festival and soon after began it's global ad campaign. The campaign was groundbreaking because they used the Internet to suggest that the film was a documentary instead of a mockumentary. By creating the idea this was real footage from the filmmakers that had died it created a huge buzz. The buzz granted the film a wide release first in the U.S. and then a global release to follow.
The Blair Witch Project really paved the way for independent filmmakers to compete with Hollywood films. July 2009 was the ten year anniversary of the film being released. Entertainment Weekly did an interview with the filmmakers about what the movie meant at the time and how it holds up now. Check it out here.
Am I correct that Blair Witch used social media to launch the movie too? Didn't they have a website for the movie?
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