Seems that horror suspense thrillers are staying strong in the game like superhero fantasy, as rumours say a Blair Witch reboot is in the works. Rights to the movie were essentially acquired by Lionsgate after it purchased Artisan Entertainment back in 2003. Together with The Blair Witch Project, Artisan also had other titles such as Pi, Killing Zoe, Grizzly Falls, Novocaine and many others in its library.
The first movie of the Blair Witch series was the most intriguing and successful of all. With only a budget of $600K from the principal shoot to post-production, the movie generated $248M at the worldwide box office. At the time, the marketing of the movie fueled the audience’s curiosity as it was made to be thought of as an amateur recording recovered in the woods.
The exponential returns of the first movie, however, were not maintained in the follow-up movies as the mystery or the unknown factor was no longer there. Eventually, people found out about the movie’s marketing campaign, and the original shock was never experienced again. Nevertheless, the movie did introduce a specific filming style for all the years of cinema to come.
Even though the two movies that followed performed well at the box office, follow-up productions seemed to take a standstill, until recent news about the movie company intending to revive the Blair Witch from its slumber.
The Blair Witch Project Could Soon Get Its Revival
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EXCLUSIVE: Start prepping those pitches, genre scribes, because it sounds like Lionsgate is ready to venture back into the woods again for another BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, since good IP is never truly dead in the Streaming Age… https://t.co/AGfumgwjT8 pic.twitter.com/68WrjoWkCf
— Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) April 18, 2022
In a recent tweet, Jeff Sneider of The Ankler wrote:
EXCLUSIVE: Start prepping those pitches, genre scribes, because it sounds like Lionsgate is ready to venture back into the woods again for another BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, since good IP is never truly dead in the Streaming Age…
The first movie in 1999 was practically the movie that made ‘found-footage’ cinematography happen for mainstream projects. It was an American supernatural horror movie that Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez wrote, directed and edited.
The movie showcased the premise of three student filmmakers who filmed a documentary about the Blair Witch. The trio vanished, and a year later, their equipment was discovered. The movie was, for all intents and purposes, the ‘found footage’ from the students’ belongings.
In 2016, the directors shared the influences of the sleeper hit of 1999 in the archived pages of House of Horrors. Myrick listed their favourite horror movies:
We love all “good” films, horror or otherwise. “The Exorcist”, “The Shining” and “The Omen” are just a few of our favorites.
As for the approach they utilised for the original film, Myrick said:
Shows like “In Search Of”, “Chariots of the Gods” and “The Legend of Boggy Creek” were huge influences on us. It was their “reality based” format that creeped us out as kids. Ed and I wanted to capture that same primal scare within a more contemporary film.
True enough, the duo found documentaries more scary and intriguing to watch. Thus, they applied this ‘feel’ to the first Blair Witch movie. They created the urban legend of the Blair Witch some years before starting the production. 1993 to be exact when the two directors realized documentaries were scarier.
Actual production reportedly cost $60-70K, with post-production swelling it to the recorded $600K. Artisan Entertainment bought the distribution rights for $1.1M after the film captured audiences at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 1999. The rest was history.
Reawakening The Blair Witch
Credit: Summit Entertainment
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Now under Lionsgate, the Blair Witch might just get a new history written for the movies. Maybe even a series for streaming. Giant Freakin Robot also reports that Oliver Park is set to helm the reboot.
Park directed Vicious, the 2016 winner of Best Horror Short Film at the American Short Film Awards. Other works include 2022 The Offering, 2019 A Night of Horror: Nightmare Radio, 2017 Still and 2014 Strange Events.
Whether a reboot, remake, continuation or a spin-off, the Blair Witch could never match the same surprise feel of the first. Now, all that can be done for the franchise is a well-written piece to continue or expand the lore. However, audiences from around the world will ultimately know it is fictional.
What do you make of the news that The Blair Witch Project is getting a reboot? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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