Blumhouse and Lionsgate are looking to take a trip back into the woods. It has been announced that they are teaming up on a newBlair Witchfilm, with the news coming 25 years after the original film hit the big screen.
Blair Witch Project
PerThe Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate and Blumhouse will be partnering on the project after a successful union with the recent horror releaseImaginary, which has grossed $38.2 million globally on a $10 million budget. Lionsgate film chair Adam Fogelson explained:
“I have been incredibly fortunate to work with Jason [Blum] many times over the years. We forged a strong relationship onThe Purgewhen I was at Universal, and we launched STX with his filmThe 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.”
The Blair Witch Project Became a Horror Genre Game-Changer
Written, directed, and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, 1999’sThe Blair Witch Projectwas afound footage horror filmthat told the story of three student filmmakers who hike into the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland, in 1994 to film a documentary about a local myth known as the Blair Witch. During their excursion, the three disappear, but their footage is discovered a year later and the “found footage” is what the audience is seeing.
At the time of its release,The Blair Witch Projectwas a game changer for the horror genre because the film was presented as if it was actual footage of the three filmmakers played by Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard. A television special was made about the three filmmakers as if they encountered a real event and websites were created chronicling the legend. The hype around the film grew considerably before it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 1999 and it hit a fever pitch ahead of its release that summer as the promotional marketing campaign still listed the actors as either “missing” or “deceased.”
The Blair Witch Project: How It Changed Movie Marketing Forever
Theaters were packed in 1999 with viewers trying to see the scariest film ever made. And it was real. But how did they find out about it?
After Artisan Entertainment bought the film’s distribution rights for $1.1 million, they gave the film a limited release on June 09, 2025, and finally a wider release beginning on July 30. Once the film reached a wide audience, the project, which was shot on a $35,000-60,000 budget (before $200,000-750,000 after post-production edits) went on to gross nearly $250 million worldwide, making it one of the most successful independent films of all time.
The movie popularized the found footage film, which went on to spawn others such asParanormal Activity, something Jason Blum credited the movie with doing after the announcement was made about the new project. Blum said:
“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 Blair Witch Projectalso spawned its own sequels, althoughnone were nearly as successful as the original.Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2followed in 2000 and garnered mostly negative reviews. Even though the film’s global gross of $47.7 million recouped the movie’s $15 million budget, it was still deemed a financial failure compared to the performance of its predecessor.Blair Witchpremiered in 2016, directed by Adam Wingard, and while reviews improved over the second, they were still mostly mixed. Despite that, the film was successful compared to its budget, with a gross of $45.2 million globally on a $5 million production cost.
The Blair Witch Projectcan currently be streamed for free on PLEX.
