| Ouija | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Stiles White |
| Screenplay by |
|
| Story by | Stiles White |
| Based on | Ouija byHasbro |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | David Emmerichs |
| Edited by | Ken Blackwell |
| Music by | Anton Sanko |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 89 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States[1] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5–8 million[3][4] |
| Box office | $103.6 million[3] |
Ouija is a 2014 Americansupernatural horror film. It was directed byStiles White in hisdirectorial debut.Jason Blum,Michael Bay,Andrew Form,Bradley Fuller, and Bennett Schneir produced it, andJuliet Snowden and White wrote it. They had previously together writtenThe Possession.[5] It starsOlivia Cooke,Daren Kagasoff,Douglas Smith, andBianca A. Santos as teenagers who have unleashed spirits from aOuija board.Universal Pictures releasedOuija on October 24, 2014.
Despite receiving an overwhelmingly negative critical response, it grossed $103.6 million worldwide on a $5–8 million budget. A prequel directed byMike Flanagan, titledOuija: Origin of Evil, was released in 2016 to much more positive reviews.
Debbie recalls playingOuija with her best friend Laine as children. In present day, she throws herOuija board into the fire and implies to Laine that something strange happened with the board. After Laine leaves, the Ouija board reappears in Debbie's bedroom. Debbie becomes possessed andhangs herself inside her home.
Laine attends Debbie's wake with her boyfriend Trevor, sister Sarah, friend Isabelle, and Debbie's boyfriend Pete. The five friends meet at Debbie's house and use her Ouija board to try communicating with her. Strange things happen, and a presence smashes Pete's hand and face into a mirror. The friends start finding the phrase "Hi friend" (a message communicated during the Ouija board session) written in different places, like Isabelle's car and Pete's desk. Thinking Deb is trying to communicate with them, they have another Ouija session and discover that they are actually in contact with a spirit calling itself "DZ." Laine sees the image of a little girl with her mouth sewn shut. The girl warns them to run because her mother is coming. Laine later learns that Deb found the Ouija board in her attic and played alone.
Later, while preparing a bath, Isabelle is possessed and killed. Laine and Pete search Deb's attic and find a box of old photographs that belonged to the previous residents. While researching the previous family's history, they learn of a little girl named Doris Zander who went missing. Doris' sister Paulina, now an old woman committed to apsychiatric hospital, explains that her mother was a medium and used Doris as a vessel for the dead to speak through. Their mother went mad and sewed Doris' mouth shut, killing her. She tells Laine that there is a secret room in the house where Laine must find Doris' hidden body and unstitch her mouth in order for the girl to banish their mother. The friends go back to the house, where Laine finds Doris' corpse and cuts the stitches on her mouth. Doris' mother's spirit protests, but Doris chases away the ghost. Pete goes back to his house but is possessed and killed by Doris.
Laine revisits Paulina, realizing that she was in allegiance with Doris all along and had intentionally lied. Doris is the evil entity and her mother was trying to stop the friends from summoning her.[6] Laine's grandmother advises the sisters to destroy Doris' body and the Ouija board. Doris' ghost drowns Trevor and captures Sarah to sew her mouth shut. Laine plays the Ouija board alone to draw the spirit's attention. Doris starts possessing Laine, but before she can take the latter's life, Debbie's ghost appears and helps Laine defeat Doris, keeping her at bay so Sarah and Laine can throw Doris' body and the Ouija board into the furnace, stopping theparanormal activity. Later, Laine finds that theplanchette has mysteriously appeared back at her home and looks through it, as the screen cuts to black and the movie ends.
Ouija began development in May 2008 withUniversal Pictures attached.[11]David Berenbaum was hired to write the script, whileMichael Bay,Andrew Form, andBryan Fuller ofPlatinum Dunes were slated to produce.[12] In October 2010, the studio had set a release date of November 21, 2012.[13] That same month,Adam Horowitz andEdward Kitsis had written a new script, whileSylvain White,Scott Stewart, andPierre Morel were in talks to direct.[14] The film was described as a "four-quadrantsupernaturaladventure" akin toThe Mummy andIndiana Jones.[15] By December, the studio had passed on all pitches from the aforementioned filmmakers, includingJohn Moore, and were now consideringMcG andBreck Eisner to direct.[16] The next month, McG was set to direct.[17] In April,Evan Spiliotopoulos was hired for rewrites when Horowitz and Kitsis where tied to other commitments.[18] In June,Simon Kinberg, who previously wroteThis Means War for McG, was brought in for further revisions.[19] In August, Universal abandonedOuija due to its "tentpole level" budget, leading to the film's producers meeting withParamount Pictures and20th Century Fox.[20][21] Kinberg's draft would have cost $125 million to produce.[22] In October,Hasbro Studios opted to restructure the film to accommodate a lower budget.[23]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".[24] Following the project's reconfiguration, McG was no longer involved whileJason Blum ofBlumhouse Productions and Universal boarded the film in March 2012.[25] A 2013 release window and a $5 million budget were instated.[26] In July 2012,Juliet Snowden andStiles White were hired to write a new screenplay with White directing.[27]
Across December 2013,Olivia Cooke,Douglas Smith,Bianca Santos,Erin Moriarty,Ana Coto, Vivis Colombetti,Daren Kagasoff, andMatthew Settle joined the cast.[7][8][9][10]
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 longpost-production phase".[30]
Universal releasedOuija in theUnited States on October 24, 2014.[31] A tie-innovelization for the film by Katharine Turner was released on September 16, 2014.[32]
Ouija was released in the US onDVD andBlu-ray on February 3, 2015.[33]
In North America, the film was released to 2,858 theaters and earned $19,875,995[34] on its opening weekend (including its $911,000 gross on Thursday preview nights and $8.3 million on its opening day).[35][36][37] at an average of $7,000 per theater, debuting at number one at the box office ahead of newly releasedJohn Wick ($14.2 million).[38] The film played 75% under-25 years old and 61% female on its opening weekend.[39]
Ouija was released in five international markets and earned $1.3 million from 234 screens. The film went to number two in Malaysia ($545,000), number four in Taiwan ($331,000), number two in Singapore ($238,000) and also number four in Poland ($137,000).[40] In its second weekend the film earned $5.7 million from 1,166 screens in 19 territories for a two weekend international total of $7.7 million. It went to number one in the UK, Indonesia and the Philippines. In the UK, the film earned $2.2 million on its opening weekend, which is the second biggest opening weekend for a horror film in 2014 only behindAnnabelle ($3.1 million).Ouija made a domestic total of $50,856,010 and $52,618,000 overseas, for a worldwide total of $103,674,010.[41]
According to thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 6% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 90 reviews, and it has an average rating of 3.2/10. The website's critics consensus states: "Slowly, steadily, although no one seems to be moving it in that direction, theOuija planchette points to NO."[42]Metacritic, another review aggregator which assigns and normalizes scores of critic reviews, gave the film a weighted average score of 38 out of 100 based on reviews from 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[43] Audiences surveyed byCinemaScore gave the film a "C" grade.[44]
The film was novelized by Katharine Turner. The novel was released on September 16, 2014.[32]
Throughout January 2015, reports of a sequel were announced. In February 2015, it was confirmed the film was in development and had no release date.Jason Blum stated "We're a ways away ..."[45] In April 2015, it was announced that the sequel would be released on October 21, 2016.Mike Flanagan would direct and co-write the sequel with hisOculus co-writer Jeff Howard. The film would be produced byMichael Bay, Brad Fuller,Andrew Form,Jason Blum, Brian Goldner, and Stephen Davis.Annalise Basso and Kaylee Procter would star in the sequel.[46][47] It was then announced thatOuija: Origin of Evil would serve as aprequel to the first film. It was released in the United States on October 21, 2016, and unlike its predecessor, it gained far more positive reviews.[48]