12 Inferior Film Sequels That Totally Missed The Point Of The Originals

2. Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 Scraps Everything That Made The Original So Good

When The Blair Witch Project was released in 1999, the found footage horror genre was so unique that the movie actually tricked people into believing it wasn't fiction. Because the film cost just $22,000 to make and grossed $240.5 million worldwide, it remains the highest grossing found footage movie and one of the most profitable movies ever made. The original's distributor, Artisan Entertainment, hurried a sequel into production, though the creators of the original, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, objected to rushing a sequel. When Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 was released it grossed less than $50 million worldwide. What went wrong? The main problem is that the sequel isn't a found footage film. Even though Artisan hired documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger to direct the sequel, he was asked to make a traditional horror movie to make the sequel more commercial. That ignored that The Blair Witch Project was successful precisely because it wasn't commercial. After more box office bombs, Artisan was acquired in 2003 by Lionsgate for $220 million, which is notably less than what The Blair Witch Project made at the box office. Had Artisan stuck to the original formula for its sequel, the company might still be in existence with a billion-dollar franchise.