HBO pulls the plug on "Project Greenlight"
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck won't be finding any more new filmmakers -- at least not under the "Project Greenlight" banner.
After four seasons over the course of 15 years, the movie business reality series has been canceled, HBO announced Tuesday. The most recent season wrapped up in November of last year.
"When we picked up a new season in 2014, we imagined a one season revival and decided in early 2016 another season did not make sense for us," the network said in a statement. "We are proud of the show and were pleased with its run throughout the years."
"Project Greenlight" debuted on HBO in 2001 and ran for two seasons, following the process of selecting a script, assembling a cast and crew and making an actual independent film to be released in theaters. A third season was made in 2005 after moving the show to Bravo, with a change in focus to indie horror.
Nearly 10 years after that, HBO brought the series back to produce a film that the cable network would premiere. The series was nominated for Emmys in 2002, 2004 and 2005.
Returns for the films produced by the series were less than stellar, with season 1's "Stolen Summer" earning just under $140,000 at the box office and season 2's "The Battle of Shaker Heights" -- starring a young Shia LaBeouf -- taking in just under $280,000.
Season 3's horror film "Feast" fared better, earning almost $690,000 at the box office and an additional $4,687,595 on DVD. Season 4's "The Leisure Class" was not released in theaters.
The fourth season of the show was more notable for the controversy that surrounded it rather than the film it produced, as Damon locked horns with producer Effie Brown over the issue of diversity in front of and behind the camera.
Damon later told The Hollywood Reporter that the conversation had been edited, removing important context.
The "Jason Bourne" star told the Associated Press that he, Affleck and the show's producers plan to shop the series to streaming services.