Released in 1999, The Blair Witch Project arrived at the perfect time for maximum terror of audiences everywhere. We were on the cusp of Y2K, found footage horror movies were in their infancy, and people weren’t Internet savvy enough to spot an organized mystery box campaign that combined real news stories with local folklore. The result? $248M worldwide, and millions of terrified moviegoers, including yours truly. Rumors of a reboot have been going on for years, but finally those stories bear fruit in an announcement of a reimagining from Blumhouse and Lionsgate.
A pact has been struck between Blumhouse and Lionsgate for the former to reimagine horror classics from the Lionsgate catalog. Blumhouse’s Jason Blum will produce alongside Roy Lee, who produced the unfortunate 2016 sequel Blair Witch.
Lionsgate chair Adam Fogelson said: “I have been incredibly fortunate to work with Jason many times over the years. We forged a strong relationship on The Purge when I was at Universal, and we launched STX with his film The Gift. There is no one better at this genre than the team at Blumhouse. We are thrilled to kick this partnership off with a new vision for Blair Witch that will reintroduce this horror classic for a new generation. We couldn’t be more pleased to be working with them on this and other projects we look forward to revealing soon.“
Blum added: “I’m very grateful to Adam and the team at Lionsgate for letting us play in their sandbox. I’m a huge admirer of The Blair Witch Project, which brought the idea of found footage horror to mainstream audiences and became a true cultural phenomenon. I don’t think there would have been a Paranormal Activity had there not first been a Blair Witch, so this feels like a truly special opportunity and I’m excited to see where it leads.“
The original Blair Witch Project centered on three student filmmakers who hike into the Black Hills woods of Burkittsville, Maryland to investigate the local legend of the Blair Witch. Terrible things happen, and the trio disappears, but their items are discovered a year later and become the basis for the “found footage” film. A heavily-produced mainstream sequel, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, was released a year later, followed by Blair Witch in 2016. [via Deadline]
