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Did Unfriended Blatantly Steal Concept from The Upper Footage?

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This past weekend marked the theatrical release of Blumhouse’s Unfriended, which was cleverly set on the computer screen of its main character. And though no one’s claiming it’s the first of its kind, with films like Open Windows and The Den employing similar tactics, someone is now claiming the idea was entirely stolen.

Over the weekend, director Justin Cole took to social media in an effort to spread the word about the perceived thievery, asserting that the similarities between Unfriended and his film The Upper Footage are simply too obvious to ignore. The Upper Footage was widely released on VOD outlets in 2013, and Cole began teasing the film way back in 2010.

Below you’ll find Cole’s full statement, posted to his personal Facebook page, where he makes some pretty compelling points.

“Was going to keep this to myself but it actually seems to be haunting me at this point (no pun intended). I am sure, like myself, you have all been bombarded with marketing for “Unfriended” coming out on Friday. Since the trailer has come out I have been getting a lot of messages here and on Twitter that the backstory seems like a direct knock off of my feature. At first I brushed it off as the bulk of the film is shot on Skype, which is nothing like my film, but as I looked into it the similarities were pretty much spot on.

The backstory that leads up to the meat of the film along with their marketing campaign is pretty much exactly what we did with “The Upper Footage”, just not executed nearly as well: Post a video on Youtube of a girl getting bullied after consuming drugs/alcohol, post a video of her death, get pulled from Youtube, post video on other sites, set up social media pages for the victim, and then market the film as being able to Google the fictional character as if she was real. (they even used the same pixillation but on the girl’s crotch, a nice little fuck you homage for good measure).

The production essentially did everything we did, but struck out. They didn’t actually get pulled from Youtube, no one believed that the footage was real, the only articles that show up about the character on Google are things the production released, no independent sites ran the videos or story as factual whatsoever.

At this point you might be saying “Maybe it’s a coincidence. How do you know they even saw your film?” Same thing I thought at first, so I looked into who was behind it, and yes it was one of the producers that tried to screw me over on Upper, Jason Blum.

A few years back when the questions were still lingering if my film was real or not I met with this producer, he invited me over to his house to watch the film. When I arrived he acted as if he was unaware of how to connect my computer/hard drive to his TV. When I informed him that I knew how, he quickly hurried away and said that it would be better for us to watch in his bedroom because it was a darker in there. I declined.

After watching the film he walked out of his room, called me sick, and said he loved the film. I replied great, I will put you and my lawyer in touch. He then told me he didn’t deal with lawyers only sales agents and gave me the one sales agent he would deal with. I took the name, did some research, and noticed that they had been friends and worked together for quite sometime. Noticing the conflict of interest, I informed the producer of this and he never responded. A few days later a sound guy on his film started posting the ending of my film on social media, a level of pettiness you wouldn’t expect from a successful grown man. This was my last foray into dealing with studios or any well know producers and was the main catalyst for me distributing the film myself. After this I remember one of my buddies telling me “you know it’s only a matter of time before this guy just takes your idea and turns it into something.” Few years later that time has come.

Every time I see advertisements for this film now it’s like a punch in the stomach. If it were another artist evolving the premise I would have actually thought it was awesome, but it’s not. It’s some vulture with no creativity bludgeoning a great idea, turning it into shit, but it doesn’t matter because he will be laughing all the way to the bank as people walk out of the theater pissed off that they were just duped into watching another crappy movie.

My last straw was this weekend. I was over a buddy’s house and he asked to see my old trailer, he opened the YouTube App on his TV, and lo and behold an “Unfriended” ad was playing before my trailer. If it were my TV I probably would have kicked it. They are marketing their film over the trailer of a film they took the concept from.

To add to the fuckery, the main critique he had of the film was that the ending was very dark and the bad kids didn’t get their comeuppance. Which is ironic being that this whole film is about the people that bullied her getting their comeuppance courtesy of the dead girl that was bullied.

A funny side note. I was back in NYC months ago and bumped into this guy on the street (this was before I heard about this film.) We made eye contact, he nervously said hi, legit looked like he saw a ghost, and before I could say a word his normal walking speed turned into a goofy looking speed walk and he rushed away from me. I was walking with my brother and he looked at me, not knowing who the guy was, laughed and asked “does that guy owe you money or something?”

Anyway rant over. I don’t know if there is any moral or lesson to this story. Perhaps it’s to take your fucking the first time because if you don’t they will just keep coming.”

Coincidence or is Cole onto something here? Check out the trailer for The Upper Footage below, and head over to Vimeo to watch the entire film. Afterwards, we invite you to form your own answer to that question, and drop it down in the comments section below.

[youtube id=”cWzsQtuS-l8″]

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Russell Crowe To Star in Another Exorcism Movie & It’s Not a Sequel

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Maybe it’s because The Exorcist just celebrated its 50th-anniversary last year, or maybe it’s because aging Academy Award-winning actors aren’t too proud to take on obscure roles, but Russell Crowe is visiting the Devil once again in yet another possession film. And it’s not related to his last one, The Pope’s Exorcist.

According to Collider, the film titled The Exorcism was originally going to be released under the name The Georgetown Project. Rights for its North American release were once in the hands of Miramax but then went to Vertical Entertainment. It will release on June 7 in theaters then head over to Shudder for subscribers.

Crowe will also star in this year’s upcoming Kraven the Hunter which is set to drop in theaters on August 30.

As for The Exorcism, Collider provides us with what it’s about:

“The film centers around actor Anthony Miller (Crowe), whose troubles come to the forefront as he shoots a supernatural horror movie. His estranged daughter (Ryan Simpkins) has to figure out whether he’s lapsing into his past addictions, or if something even more horrific is occurring. “

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New F-Bomb Laden ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Trailer: Bloody Buddy Movie

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Deadpool & Wolverine might be the buddy movie of the decade. The two heterodox superheroes are back in the latest trailer for the summer blockbuster, this time with more f-bombs than a gangster film.

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Movie Trailer

This time the focus is on Wolverine played by Hugh Jackman. The adamantium-infused X-Man is having a bit of a pity party when Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) arrives on the scene who then tries to convince him to team up for selfish reasons. The result is a profanity-filled trailer with a Strange surprise at the end.

Deadpool & Wolverine is one of the most anticipated movies of the year. It comes out on July 26. Here is the latest trailer, and we suggest if you are at work and your space isn’t private, you might want to put in headphones.

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Original Blair Witch Cast Ask Lionsgate for Retroactive Residuals in Light of New Film

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The Blair Witch Project Cast

Jason Blum is planning to reboot The Blair Witch Project for the second time. That’s a fairly large task considering none of the reboots or sequels have managed to capture the magic of the 1999 film that brought found footage into the mainstream.

This idea has not been lost on the original Blair Witch cast, who has recently reached out to Lionsgate to ask for what they feel is fair compensation for their role in the pivotal film. Lionsgate gained access to The Blair Witch Project in 2003 when they purchased Artisan Entertainment.

Blair witch
The Blair Witch Project Cast

However, Artisan Entertainment was an independent studio before its purchase, meaning the actors were not part of SAG-AFTRA. As a result, the cast are not entitled to the same residuals from the project as actors in other major films. The cast doesn’t feel that the studio should be able to continue to profit off of their hard work and likenesses without fair compensation.

Their most recent request asks for “meaningful consultation on any future ‘Blair Witch’ reboot, sequel, prequel, toy, game, ride, escape room, etc., in which one could reasonably assume that Heather, Michael & Josh’s names and/or likenesses will be associated for promotional purposes in the public sphere.”

The blair witch project

At this time, Lionsgate has not offered any comment about this issue.

The full statement made by the cast can be found below.

OUR ASKS OF LIONSGATE (From Heather, Michael & Josh, stars of “The Blair Witch Project”):

1. Retroactive + future residual payments to Heather, Michael and Josh for acting services rendered in the original BWP, equivalent to the sum that would’ve been allotted through SAG-AFTRA, had we had proper union or legal representation when the film was made.

2. Meaningful consultation on any future Blair Witch reboot, sequel, prequel, toy, game, ride, escape room, etc…, in which one could reasonably assume that Heather, Michael & Josh’s names and/or likenesses will be associated for promotional purposes in the public sphere.

Note: Our film has now been rebooted twice, both times were a disappointment from a fan/box office/critical perspective. Neither of these films were made with significant creative input from the original team. As the insiders who created the Blair Witch and have been listening to what fans love & want for 25 years, we’re your single greatest, yet thus-far un-utilized secret-weapon!

3. “The Blair Witch Grant”: A 60k grant (the budget of our original movie), paid out yearly by Lionsgate, to an unknown/aspiring genre filmmaker to assist in making theirfirst feature film. This is a GRANT, not a development fund, hence Lionsgate will not own any of the underlying rights to the project.

A PUBLIC STATEMENT FROM THE DIRECTORS & PRODUCERS OF “THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT”:

As we near the 25th anniversary of The Blair Witch Project, our pride in the storyworld we created and the film we produced is reaffirmed by the recent announcement of a reboot by horror icons Jason Blum and James Wan.

While we, the original filmmakers, respect Lionsgate’s right to monetize the intellectual property as it sees fit, we must highlight the significant contributions of the original cast — Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Mike Williams. As the literal faces of what has become a franchise, their likenesses, voices, and real names are inseparably tied to The Blair Witch Project. Their unique contributions not only defined the film’s authenticity but continue to resonate with audiences around the world.

We celebrate our film’s legacy, and equally, we believe the actors deserve to be celebrated for their enduring association with the franchise.

Sincerely, Eduardo Sanchez, Dan Myrick, Gregg Hale, Robin Cowie, and Michael Monello

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