Blair Witch Rumored to Be Getting a Franchise Reboot

By Patrick Cavanaugh

Back in 2016, Lionsgate attempted to revive The Blair Witch Project with Blair Witch, a film that was met with both financial and critical disappointment, but a new rumor from The Ankler claims that the studio is once again looking to bring the series back from the dead. Blogger Jeff Sneider's remarks about the project imply that the studio is in the early stages of exploring the franchise, encouraging hopeful storytellers to prepare their pitches as opposed to claiming that a pitch has been confirmed and that the studio is moving forward with it. Stay tuned for updates on the future of the Blair Witch franchise.

"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..." Sneider teased on Twitter.

In the more than two decades since the series kicked off, the franchise has seen immense highs and disastrous lows. The debut entry was filmed independently and its marketing campaign teased that the movie was truly "found footage," delivering audiences an unsettling experience that was unveiled at a time when the Internet allowed audiences to craft conspiracy theories. 

Capitalizing on the immense success and acclaim the first movie earned, a sequel was rushed into production, which pivoted its filmmaking structure to be a more traditionally filmed experience. For as successful as the original film was, the sequel, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, earned the opposite reaction, as its themes of pop-culture fixation and the blurring lines of fact and fiction didn't entirely resonate with most audiences who were seeking an experience more similar to The Blair Witch Project.

Hoping to both revive the original property and replicate the clever marketing strategies from the first film, 2016 saw Lionsgate develop The Woods from director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett, only for screenings six weeks before its release to reveal it was secretly a sequel to the original Blair Witch Project. Despite that marketing strategy and connection to the source material, Blair Witch still failed to make a major impact with fresh or familiar audiences.

Especially given how follow-up films have all struggled to mirror the success of the original outing, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the studio is still attempting to find a way to bring back the iconic series.

Stay tuned for details on the Blair Witch Project franchise.

Are you hoping the series can be revived? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

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