Due to COVID-19, many theaters have been closed for months, with a limited number recently re-opening with select titles and showings. Even Disney chose to send their upcoming live-action remake of the popular classic animated film Mulan straight to their digital platform, Disney+.
It's entirely possible that Disney chose to release New Mutants and Mulan at roughly the same time, with one in theaters and one on digital, to help guide their decision on future tentpole films such as Black Widow, which is, as of right now, still headed to the big screen. However, fans of the theatrical experience are still left with limited options.
Recently, the found footage horror film Followed launched in theaters and managed to snag the number one spot in America for twelve days in a row. Given their limited budget and the challenges presented by the pandemic, the movie did exceptionally well.
Director Antoine Le chatted with us about the future of the franchise and his hopes for a shared universe, as well as the potential for releasing future entries in other languages. If you're interested in hearing the audio component of our chat with Antoine, click the podcast player below!
Literary Joe: I don't know what you can reveal because I understand that there's a future for this franchise, and you have a universe mapped out, correct? I guess maybe that's a good place to start. Could you tell us where Followed is leading and what the future is beyond a sequel?
Antoine Le: So yeah, we're looking at the whole universe in terms of what we want to bring in what's going on out there as well into the universe, which is the pandemic. So the idea behind Followed is that we want to use real-life subjects and real-life events and basically fold them into this fictional universe.
So now, as you can see from the movie perspective of "DropTheMike" or not, that's up to the audience to see. The thematic element about it is that if you are watching any vlogging or anything like that, it's basically you are watching the product of the creator, and whatever the creator wants to put in your mind, that's what you have. So that is thematic, whether you should believe what you're seeing.
Number two, the universe that we want to create is that yeah, there are happenings or ghostly events. And I know that we didn't really give an answer on purpose, just because of the fact that these will be revealed in terms of why these events happen and what's going on. What does social media have anything to do with the fact that quote-unquote evil spreads, right? So that is the theme that we want to touch upon, which is how does evil spread? Especially in our digital age, where everything is just being shared online, uploaded online, and people just comment on it and just egging on one another. People are influenced by it. So we thought it was a good idea to use that as the concept of this is how evil spreads. That is the main theme that we would have in the universe.
The sequels or whatnot is that we don't just want to limit it to just what's going on in LA, but we wanted to bring it towards, you know, the whole world. So case and point, I might think that the sequel we may have it taking place in other countries, right? So other vloggers all around the world, and we would tie in real-life events, like the pandemic and things of that nature. And because of that, it may or may not be found footage films. While the first one was found footage, the second or third, or whatnot, they may not be the same thing, you know, just from a genre perspective. But yeah, we still have the destination, so to speak. We are still trying to fill in the blanks to make an impact or use whatever else is out there while keeping the theme consistent of evil spreading in the online digital world.
Literary Joe: I'm curious; you had mentioned that you are interested in taking this universe to other countries and seeing what else is going on around the world. Do you have any interest in releasing a movie in another language?
Antoine Le: Possibly, you know, it's all about if this Followed universe is more than just a conceptual idea? So, yeah, I mean, let's just say that we do a sequel, and you know, when we come on digital, if it becomes a huge success, for example, there's a demand for it. You know, our idea is that, yeah, eventually, not only do we have the cannon sequels and whatnot, you know, the trilogy, that stuff. And then on top of that, it could be, I don't know like maybe, Followed: Mexico. Right? Which would take place in Mexico with a different crew, because it's kind of like the whole Conjuring universe, you've got the main Conjuring, and then you have Anabelle, you have all of that. Right? So that's the thing hopefully that this can create, which is in other countries, other places they may be like, "Oh, this is actually cool." There's like similar lore and legend down in some part of Asia, that people want to do. We definitely would love for that to happen. It's not part of the plan, but we would love that.
*This interview has been edited for clarity.*
When aspiring social media influencer “DropTheMike” is offered a lucrative sponsorship to grow his channel, he's joined by his video crew on a visit to one of the most haunted hotels in America, where he'll give his audience a horrific night of thrill-seeking the likes of which they have never seen before. What begins as a fun investigative challenge including the infamous Elevator Ritual quickly descends into a personal hell of true evil, begging the timely question: how far would you go to pursue internet fame?
FOLLOWED is inspired by real events at the Hotel Cecil in downtown Los Angeles, and is part of a growing list of “Screen-Life” films – films whose stories are told by way of a computer screen recording. The award-winning feature is the first horror film to do so entirely through a series of YouTube-like vlogs.
Followed releases today, and you can check the film out here.