The Blair Witch Project hit cinemas in 1999 as something fresh and new and scary that grabbed moviegoers by the collar and gave them a good shake. The “found-footage” style of filmmaking may not have been brand new, but The Blair Witch Project was one of the first films to show exactly what could be done on a micro-budget. While the film spawned two sequels, both of which are best not mentioned, it is now apparent that Lionsgate are thinking about rebooting the franchise again.
As many know, The Blair Witch Project was completely shot on handheld cameras by the cast. It didn’t feature any special CGI effects, essentially had no monster and could have just looked like something that a group of amateur’s had put together in their spare time. However, being marketed as “real-life footage” found in the Black Hills, the movie was given a strong element of the unknown when it was released, as well as never actually showing the supposedly horrific entity known as the Blair Witch at all in the movie. To prove its point, the film was initially shot on a budget of around $60,000, which went up to somewhere north of $200,000 after post-production, but it grossed almost $250 million and has a place as one of the most profitable horror movies ever made.
Of course, the sequel couldn’t repeat the trick, and therefore became just a run-of-the-mill horror movie that saw budget costs jump to $15 million, from which it made just $47 million. The 2016 sequel, which follows on from the original movie’s story and returned to the “found-footage” format, didn’t fare any better at the box office, but dropped its budget to $5 million, making it slightly more of a financial success. However, critics were not on board, calling it a simple rehash of the original 1999 movie, which led to it landing a 38% approval on Rotten Tomatoes.
Now according to a report in The Ankler, Lionsgate is looking to reboot the franchise again, which will likely mean returning with another “found-footage” entry that has a brand new story. While that will stop the film dropping straight into the category of “same-old sequel”, it will have to pull something special out of the bag to not be seen as just another attempt to use a well-known IP name to get some attention.
Does The Blair Witch Project Need A Reboot?
While there are a few movies that have benefited greatly from having a reboot many years after the original movie’s release, it is hard to see how The Blair Witch Project could be one of them. The style of the movie prevents it being dated, as like movies that use good practical effects, a film that uses “found footage” effectively will always be effective. As the 2016 sequel proved, it is very hard to capture the magic of something so unique a second time, especially when the world has moved on when it comes the uniqueness of the 1999 movie.
Many movies have adopted the same format as The Blair Witch Project, with varying levels of success. If a Blair Witch reboot can come up with something original and scary, then it could stand a chance, but if it simply tries to replicate the original with the same story and same outcome, then it likely to be the last time we see the Blair Witch name come to screens.