A new Blair Witch movie is coming, because it's easy horror money waiting to be made
Maybe this one won't be boring.
Blumhouse is one of the busiest Hollywood studios at the moment, and it all comes down to its approach to keeping budgets under control and always being open to surprising collaborations. This has allowed the studio to reimagine a number of iconic horror properties, and The Blair Witch series might be next in line.
On April 10, it was announced that Blumhouse and Lionsgate would team up to make a new Blair Witch movie, the first since 2016's follow-up directed by Godzilla x Kong's Adam Wingard. According to The Hollywood Reporter, it marks the beginning of "a multifilm deal between the studios that will see Blumhouse reimagine horror classics from Lionsgate."
The news arrives after Imaginary (released in early March), a collaboration with Lionsgate, made $38 million worldwide on a measly production budget of around $10 million and far less spent on marketing. Lionsgate has also been looking to make easy money out of reasonably budgeted movies, whether they're action, horror, or something else, so this new alliance makes sense for both parties.
Earlier this year, Blumhouse's merger with James Wan's Atomic Monster, another horror powerhouse, was finalized, though we've yet to see the first results of Jason Blum and Wan joining forces. In late 2023, the Five Nights at Freddy's adaptation became the studio's biggest hit ever, and unsurprisingly, a sequel has just been confirmed for a late 2025 release.
As for Lionsgate, the company is now looking to expand the John Wick universe with a spinoff titled Ballerina and led by Ana de Armas. This summer, it'll be releasing the already-controversial reboot of The Crow, which has reportedly garnered solid early buzz from test screenings.
While I personally never found The Blair Witch Project impressive, it's hard to deny its massive influence on modern horror, spawning what would later be called 'found footage' movies and two profoundly divisive sequels: Book of Shadows and Blair Witch '16. It also made almost $250 million during its original theatrical run in 1999 on a ridiculous production budget well below $1 million. And in case your forgot: in 2019, we received an okay-ish video game from Bloober Team too. So yeah, this legend is refusing to die.