Facebook Watch: ‘Blair Witch’ Scares Its Way Upwards

Monday Afternoon Update: Horror fans the world over went crazy after the revelation at last month’s San Diego Comic Con that a sequel to The Blair Witch Project was what September’s mysterious Into The Woods actually was. The news alone propelled the interest in the film sky-high and it is still reaping the rewards in social media buzz. With TV spots, its creepy 360 degree website and strong word of mouth/nostalgia from the first film this is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the coming weeks. It led all films in Facebook buzz with 133,396 new likes to push its total to 395,378 as of the end of yesterday. By comparison, last year’s much hyped September horror The Visit had a very similar 329,341 likes the same distance before its release. If it follows the same trajectory as The Visit it will have a shot at over 800,000 likes the time September 16 rolls around.

The other big mover on the week was the upcoming drama Sully from Warner Bros. With a new IMAX behind the scenes trailer the film gained a lot of traction on the week as it more than doubled its like total. Films such as this which target older audiences as a primary audience usually have a muted online response. Hanks’ Captain Phillips for instance had less than 20,000 likes at the same distance before release on its way to $25 million on opening weekend in October 2013. Early September is generally not a hot-bed for big openers but with the early award buzz, online chatter and stars involved it has a great shot very successful run.

Facebook Top 10 Movies by Like Increase for the last week Ending Sunday August 21