Found footage masterpiece The Blair Witch Project came along and changed the game back in 1999, subsequently spawning its own sprawling universe of media, including official follow-up films in 2000 and 2016 as well as multiple books and video games that have served to deepen the lore. But what’s next for Blair Witch as a film franchise, you ask?
According to Jeff Sneider over on The Ankler, Lionsgate is reportedly looking to relaunch the Blair Witch Project franchise, six years after Blair Witch was released into theaters.
Sneider tweets, “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…”
Head over to pay-to-read website The Ankler for more on this story.
The 2016 sequel, directed by Adam Wingard, wasn’t exactly a big hit at the box office, but the original film’s directors have never given up hope on someday returning to the franchise to pump new life into it. Oddly enough, creators Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez didn’t have much creative input on either of the follow-up films, despite having a wealth of ideas.
Myrick and Sanchez have talked about everything from a sequel to Rustin Parr/Elly Kedward standalone movies, hungry to dive in and expand upon the Blair Witch universe. Alas, none of those projects have ever come to life on the screen, as Lionsgate has had different plans.
Myrick explained to Bloody Disgusting’s The Boo Crew Podcast back in 2020, “[Lionsgate hasn’t] been too interested in our input, which is sort of ironic. But whenever [they’re] ready, we’re hanging out – if you want us to come back in and take a stab at it.”