Original Blair Witch Project Stars Request Residuals and Recognition in Light of Upcoming Reboot

Twenty-five years after the release of the original Blair Witch Project, Lionsgate and Blumhouse have recently announced a reboot coming in the near future. The original stars of the movie are now speaking out about the “disrespect” and “classless” treatment they’ve felt for the last quarter century while the studios pocket the money.

In a Facebook post on April 11, 2024, Joshua Leonard — one of the original film’s stars — said, “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.”

Leonard, along with his co-stars Heather Donahue and Michael C. Williams later released the following statement:

OUR ASKS OF LIONSGATE (From Heather, Michael & Josh, stars of The Blair Witch Project):

1. Retroactive + future residual payments to Heather, Michael and Josh for acting services rendered in the original BWP, equivalent to the sum that would’ve been allotted through SAG-AFTRA, had we had proper union or legal representation when the film was made.

2. Meaningful consultation on any future Blair Witch reboot, sequel, prequel, toy, game, ride, escape room, etc… , in which one could reasonably assume that Heather, Michael & Josh’s names and/or likenesses will be associated for promotional purposes in the public sphere.

Note: Our film has now been rebooted twice, both times were a disappointment from a fan/box office/critical perspective. 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!

3. “The Blair Witch Grant”: A 60k grant (the budget of our original movie), paid out yearly by Lionsgate, to an unknown/aspiring genre filmmaker to assist in making their first feature film. This is a GRANT, not a development fund, hence Lionsgate will not own any of the underlying rights to the project.

Will the team at Lionsgate, who currently hold the rights to the film, and Blumhouse respect their terms or just move forward with the already announced reboot? Only time will tell, but we will be watching closely to see how this pans out.