The Blair Witch Project is the most important example of online film promotion in cinema history. Over the last thirty years only a small number of major and independent distributors have converted internet-created buzz into box-office revenues with similar levels of success. Yet readings of how the film's internet campaign broke new ground in the summer of 1999 tend to minimize, overlook or ignore the significance of other online film promotions. Similarly, claims that Blair initiated a cycle of imitators have been repeated in film publications and academic studies for more than two decades.
This book challenges three major narratives in studies about online film marketing: Hollywood's major studios and independents had no significant relationship to the internet in the 1990s; online film promotions only took off after 1999 because of
Read more