Darkest Timeline: "Unfriended Dark Web" Won’t Be Released in Australian Cinemas

It will now go (spooky voice) direct to digital!

Student Edge has learnt Unfriended Dark Web, the sequel to 2015’s Unfriended, won’t be released in Australian cinemas.

"A decision has been made not to release Unfriended Dark Web in Australian cinemas," a Universal Pictures Australia representative told Student Edge in an email, following the film’s disappointing debut at the American box office over the weekend.

The sequel had previously been given a local release date of 9 August.

This will no doubt come as devastating news to fans of 2015’s ingenious found-footage horror flick Unfriended, which has earned a cult reputation among connoisseurs of the genre.

After all, nearly two decades after The Blair Witch Project, Unfriended found an entirely new way to tell the story of tech-savvy teenagers accidently filming their supernatural deaths, having all the action play out on the computer screen of a young girl as she Skypes with her mates.

(This critic certainly wishes he could go back and update his initial 3/5 review and give it a bump, if only for the part where her Spotify becomes possessed too.)

Made for $US1 million, Unfriended grossed more than $US64 million worldwide. A sequel was guaranteed. And this past weekend, the prophecy was fulfilled: Unfriended Dark Web (also produced for just $US1 million) arrived in U.S. cinemas, boasting not one but two alternate endings, randomly playing depending on the cinema.

But, despite the goodwill from the original, the multiple endings gimmick and one of the all-time great taglines (“death wants some face time”), the film was a flop, earning just $US3.6 million over three days.

It now appears that its producers are cutting their losses and cancelling an international rollout.

Though we’re not sure when, it’s likely the picture will go direct to digital in Australia (meaning: become available on iTunes or Amazon Prime Video and the like) before the end of the year.

Until then, please close your laptop screens in solidarity for a moment’s silence.

Header Image: Universal Pictures