I admit I wasn't entirely surprised to find as I continued my reading of Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins, that the Blair Witch phenomenon was eventually mentioned.
I am old enough to remember this first hand, and I remember too the massive tourism that sprung forth all because of small indie film. Blair Witch indeed, was not just a movie, but a prime example of Convergence Culture. They were able to make a second film, based largely over the masses reaction to the first one!
The Matrix was also, as Jenkins points out, exceedingly original, and how the Wachowski brothers dealt with their fans, and critics helped to ensure their success. The Matrix Reloaded had entire gaps of plot development missing in the movie, that were picked up on or completed in the coordinating video game. Their movie posters had cheat codes in the streaming numbers. They made a unique media event, not a movie.
They almost made the movie a game in fact, in the way they had symbolism and fans guessing for more and more hidden meanings, and their cryptic answers only incited the fans to dig deeper. Similar to The Blair Witch, this was truly a fan experience, participated in by masses, communicating to masses, all trying to solve the puzzle that is The Matrix.
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