The Blair Witch Project, the first film almost entirely promoted on the Web, continued its march over the weekend toward becoming the top-grossing independently produced film of all time.
But it couldn't inch pass a more ordinary horror film, The Sixth Sense, to become the No. 1 slot at the box office, suggesting that mainstream America hasn't necessarily bought into the Internet's Blair Witch frenzy.
See also: Blair Witch Casts Strong Spell- - - - - -
In its second weekend, Artisan Entertainment's Blair Witch earned US$24.1 million, just behind the debut of Sixth Sense with $25.8 million, according to movie market research Reel Source Inc. The Sixth Sense, produced by Disney's Hollywood Pictures, stars Bruce Willis as a child psychiatrist trying to help a boy haunted by visions of dead people.
The box office take for Blair Witch -- $79.7 million through the weekend -- is still extraordinary for a film that cost an estimated $65,000 to make and about $1.5 million to produce and promote. The film is still on its way to making more than $110 million, surpassing Compass' Hallowe'en as the top-grossing independently produced film ever, according to Reel Source president Robert Bucksbaum. Bucksbaum estimated that Sixth Sense would earn about $88 million.
Blair Witch is "almost like an art house film," Bucksbaum said. "You can't market an art house film to middle America. They like steak-and-potatoes films" with big stars like Willis.
Blair Witch is about the eerie happenings surrounding the mysterious disappearance of three documentary filmmakers.
