Will ‘Blair Witch Project’s’ Marketing Spell Continue?

For consumers seeking video treats this Halloween, the release of the sleeper hit “The Blair Witch Project” a mere 60 days after the height of its theatrical run is perhaps more shocking than whatever it was those three ill-fated student filmmakers found in the woods.

The average time it takes for a film to go from theater to video is about six months. Further, despite the $140 million that “Blair Witch” scared up at the box office, it otherwise does not fit the profile of a title normally priced for direct sale to consumers. It is R-rated and certainly not family fare.

Yet come Friday, “The Blair Witch Project” will be released at a suggested list price of $23 on VHS and $30 on DVD. Both versions contain exclusive, “newly discovered footage” not seen in the feature film. Artisan Entertainment is also simultaneously releasing “The Curse of the Blair Witch,” the faux documentary that ran on the Sci-Fi Channel, for $15. “Blair”-heads can purchase both videos in a two-tape set for $33.

“The Blair Witch Project” has been defying conventional wisdom ever since Artisan purchased rights to the low-budget film for $1 million at the Sundance Film Festival. According to figures compiled by the industry trade publication Video Store magazine, the official Web site has racked up more than 80 million hits and, in the film’s breakout opening weekend, it earned an unprecedented average of $26,528 per screen. It was also accorded the Springsteen-esque pop culture cachet of simultaneous cover stories on Time and Newsweek.

These factors, as well as the film’s demonstrated “repeatability” with audiences, compelled Artisan to regard the movie as one that people would want to own as well as rent, and to release it prior to Halloween as opposed to December, as originally planned.

“We got a lot of comments from people in the industry that we were crazy to release it to the sell-through--or consumer--market,” said Steve Beeks, president of Artisan Home Entertainment. “No one has ever shipped more than 5 million units on any R-rated film that goes direct to sell-through. We will ship 7 million units just on VHS, up to a million DVDs, and 500,000 copies of ‘Curse of the Blair Witch.’ ”

Artisan’s decision has given retailers something to scream about. “It’s an event title and a focal point in our stores,” said Peter Busch, vice president of video merchandising for Musicland Stores Corp., which owns Suncoast Motion Picture Co. “Its box office was very impressive and the timing of the title from theatrical to home video is one of the shortest we’ve seen.”

“It should be a pretty hot title,” echoed John Thrasher, vice president of video sales for Tower Records and Video. “It makes a great deal of sense to get it out before Halloween. After its first weekend [in wide release], they [at Artisan] were probably just licking their chops. Video will take it to the next level--and the theatrical level was pretty phenomenal. Artisan did an exceptional job of building awareness. The film is still on everybody’s mind.”

Expectations are high at Artisan, too. “It is a milestone for our company,” said Jeff Fink, president of sales and marketing. “It will generate more revenue than any other [Artisan] video release has,” topping the company’s previous best-seller, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”

It may be, as Heather Donahue notes in “The Blair Witch Project,” hard to get lost in America, but it is easy for any title, no matter how seemingly popular, to get lost on video store shelves. The challenge facing Artisan’s video division has been to continue the momentum of the theatrical release and generate renewed excitement for a film that recently has begun to flirt with the curse of overexposure--witness parodies of the film that television networks created to hype their new fall shows.

Artisan is backing the film with a $15-million consumer advertising campaign, its most ambitious ever. According to Beeks, the company has lined up 42 exclusive retailer promotions. Amazon.com can boast movie footage available for viewing only on its Web site.

Targeting film-savvy audiences who took “Blair Witch” to heart, several hundred video boxes will contain prizes. The top prize is an all-expenses-paid trip to Sundance and passes to the festival.