A Potpourri of Vestiges Feature
A Viral Publicity Campaign
$1.5 Million on Its Opening Weekend
Independent Filmmakers Should Take
Notes
 |
| Photo Source |
The Blair Witch
Project focused on three student filmmakers who were creating a film about the supernatural legend of the Blair Witch. The story starts with them interviewing the
local people in the town of Burkittsville, Maryland, and ends with them
disappearing into the hills with their film equipment. They are never heard from again. That is
until their film is found and is made into a movie. The Blair Witch Project was a truly
independent movie that became a massive commercial success. But just how did this happen?
A Viral Publicity Campaign
In 1998, the
production company behind the Blair Witch Project bought the domain name www.blairwitch.com and set up a basic website which talked about
the legend. A year later, in January
1999, the film aired at Sundance and the rights were sold to Artisan
Entertainment for $1 million. In a joint
decision, Artisan and the production company decided to place the website at
the center of their publicity campaign.
The website was added
to over the following six months, and a number of other low-priced marketing
techniques were employed. By the time
the film released in July that same year, only around $1 million had been spent
on advertising – a lot less than you would expect for a film that went on to
have the success that the Blair Witch Project had.
$1.5 Million on Its Opening Weekend
On its opening
weekend, the Blair Witch Project was only scheduled to run on 27 screens in the
US. However, each one of these screens
was fully booked and the film generated $1.5 million! Before its release in the UK and Ireland,
double the number of screens were made available in order to cater to
demand. The film has since made over $250 million, which is the second highest return on
investment for any film ever released.
Modern cinema has led to some fantastic releases over the years, but
none has managed to surpass the success that this independent film enjoyed 19
years ago, back in 2009.
Independent Filmmakers Should Take
Notes
Independent filmmakers
in 2018 can take a lot of notes from the success of the Blair Witch
Project. Although we now have numerous
services available to us like DVD replication
and social media for advertising, sometimes, going down the simple route is
what works. The Blair Witch Project was
a unique idea at the time, and it was promoted using a mysterious website. Although part of its success is that it was
one of the first films to be marketed online, there are many options out there
for new filmmakers who are not afraid to move away from the standards.
So, how did the Blair
Witch Project become a commercial success?
It broke the boundaries and created something new. Its creators used what was, at the time, a
new form of marketing to promote it.
And, it focused on creating a story.
It will be interesting to see whether any other film matches its success
in the future.
Readers, please feel free to share your opinion by leaving your comments. As always your valuable thoughts are highly appreciated!
People who liked this also liked...
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for sharing for valuable opinion. We would be delighted to have you back.