Ghosts & Hauntings

25 years after release, The Blair Witch Project is getting a reboot

By T.K. Randall
April 14, 2024 ·  6 comments

The woods of Maryland. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 4.0 PersianDutchNetwork Like it or loathe it, there's no denying that The Blair Witch Project was a major hit when it released all the way back in 1999, not only making $250 million on a tiny budget of less than $1 million, but also helping to popularize the entire found-footage genre.

The film follows three student filmmakers who go missing after venturing out into the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland in an attempt to create a film about a local legend known as the Blair Witch.

What made the film so terrifying was the fact that, unlike in most horror movies, you never actually directly set eyes upon the entity that hunts them, thus leaving it all up to your imagination.

The movie also does a good job of building suspense as the trio become hopelessly lost with an unseen presence relentlessly harassing them until they can barely keep a hold of their sanity.

At the time of its release, the movie was marketed in such a way so as to make audiences believe that it was actually genuine footage that the authorities had found and that the three actors - who used their real names in the movie - were actual students who had gone missing.In the years that followed the movie's release there was an ill-received sequel as well as a reboot of sorts in 2016 which did reasonably well but couldn't recapture the success of the original.

Now, to mark the 25th anniversary of the original film's release, horror movie veteran Jason Blum has announced that the series will be receiving another reboot that, according to Lionsgate chair Adam Fogelson, will "reintroduce this horror classic for a new generation."

"I'm very grateful to Adam and the team at Lionsgate for letting us play in their sandbox," said Blum.

"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."


Source: Joe.co.uk | Comments (6)

Tags: Blair Witch