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	This story was printed from dtheatre.com,
	located at http://www.dtheatre.com/read?sid=1120.
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Blair Witch Sequel Has Poor Box Office Turnout
By SKillBot, (DT)
October 30, 2000 11:00 AM PT

Maybe all those people who threw up in the theatre the first time got scared off. Or maybe they realized how stupid the first one really was, and didn't want to gamble on the sequel. I must admit that as much as I despised the first one, the sequel actually looks interesting.

"I guess you can fool movie-goers once, but they won't go for it a second time," said box-office analyst Robert Bucksbaum of Reel Source Inc."

"Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2" cost about $15 million to make, while the original cost about $60,000 to shoot plus $300,000 for theatre quality post production. Artisan still expects to turn a good profit on the sequel by the time its domestic gross, overseas rights, television sales and video revenue are added up.

"We're definitely disappointed," said Rob Friedman, vice chairman of Paramount motion-pictures group. "We felt it was the sort of offbeat, dark comedy that audiences would embrace, and they didn't."

A third movie, a prequel relating how the "Blair Witch" legend started, is planned for release next year.