Ouija (2014 film)

Overview

Ouija

alt	Ouija
director	Stiles White
producer	Michael Bay Andrew Form Bradley Fuller Jason Blum Bennett Schneir
screenplay	Juliet Snowden Stiles White
story	Stiles White
based on	Ouija by Hasbro
starring	Olivia Cooke Daren Kagasoff Douglas Smith Bianca Santos
music	Anton Sanko
cinematography	David Emmerichs
editing	Ken Blackwell
production companies	Platinum Dunes‡R1R‡ Blumhouse Productions‡R1R‡ Hasbro Studios‡R1R‡
distributor	Universal Pictures
runtime	89 minutes‡R2R‡
country	United States‡R1R‡
language	English
budget	$5–8 million‡R3R‡‡R4R‡
gross	$103.6 million‡R3R‡

Ouija is a 2014 American supernatural horror film. It was directed by Stiles White in his directorial debut. Jason Blum, Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Bradley Fuller, and Bennett Schneir produced it, and Juliet Snowden and White wrote it. They had previously together written The Possession.[5] It stars Olivia Cooke, Daren Kagasoff, Douglas Smith, and Bianca A. Santos as teenagers who have unleashed spirits from a Ouija board. Universal Pictures released Ouija on October 24, 2014.

Despite being universally panned by critics, the film grossed $103.6 million worldwide on a $5–8 million budget. A prequel directed by Mike Flanagan, titled Ouija: Origin of Evil, was released in 2016 to much more positive reviews.

Plot

Debbie recalls playing Ouija

Production

Development

Ouija began development in May 2008 with Universal Pictures attached.[7] David Berenbaum was hired to write the script, while Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Bryan Fuller of Platinum Dunes were slated to produce.[8] In October 2010, the studio had set a release date of November 21, 2012.[9] That same month, Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis had written a new script, while Sylvain White, Scott Stewart, and Pierre Morel were in talks to direct.[10] The film was described as a "four-quadrant supernatural adventure" akin to The Mummy and Indiana Jones.[11] By December, the studio had passed on all pitches from the aforementioned filmmakers, including John Moore, and were now considering McG and Breck Eisner to direct.[12] The next month, McG was set to direct.[13] In April, Evan Spiliotopoulos was hired for rewrites when Horowitz and Kitsis where tied to other commitments.[14] In June, Simon Kinberg, who previously wrote This Means War for McG, was brought in for further revisions.[15] In August, Universal abandoned Ouija due to its "tentpole level" budget, leading to the film's producers meeting with Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox.[16][17] Kinberg's draft would have cost $125 million to produce.[18] In October, Hasbro Studios opted to restructure the film to accommodate a lower budget.[19] Marti Noxon was hired to rewrite the script, in order to tone down the film's scale and instead craft a "more intimate, atmospheric -- and scary -- movie".[20] Following the project's reconfiguration, McG was no longer involved while Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions and Universal boarded the film in March 2012.[21] A 2013 release window and a $5 million budget were instated.[22] In July 2012, Juliet Snowden and Stiles White were hired to write a new screenplay with White directing.[23]

Pre-production

Across December 2013, Olivia Cooke, Douglas Smith, Bianca Santos, Erin Moriarty, Ana Coto, Vivis Colombetti, Daren Kagasoff, and Matthew Settle joined the cast.[24][25][26][27]

Filming

Principal photography began mid December 2013 in Los Angeles wrapped in January 2014.

Reshoots took place in May 2014 after a poor test screening,[28] which, according to Olivia Cooke, resulted in half the film being re-shot. With the reshoots, Lin Shaye was added to the film to play a newly written character, Erin Moriarty's character was removed from the film entirely, and new plot points were added or changed entirely. The most notable of changes included the character of Doris Zander's physical appearance changing from that of a burnt looking girl to a rotting, decomposing girl with stitches in her mouth.[29] Mike Flanagan contributed ideas to the film prior to reshoots but denied directing the film in any capacity. Flanagan also affirmed the film had a "rough journey to completion" and "a long post-production phase".[30]

Ouija (2014 film)

Plot

Cast

Production

Development

Pre-production

Filming

Release

Theatrical

Home media

Reception

Box office

Critical response

Novelization

Prequel

See also

External links

References