A Third ‘Blair Witch Project’ Movie Is “Inevitable” Says Co-Director
The firstBlair Witch Project was a cultural landmark.We’ve covered this in the past. But no movie that grosses $250 million against a budget of $60,000 is immune to the terrors of Hollywood. A sequel,Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2was released just a year later and though it made money, it was a terrible excuse for a follow-up.
Fifteen years have now passed since the lastBlair Witchfilm and the horror genre has changed and evolved probably at least that many times over that time. You’d think the train had long left the station in terms of aBlair Witch Project 3but, according to the film’s co-directorEduardo Sanchez, that’s not true. He said talks are ongoing with Lionsgate and a third film is “inevitable.” Then again, he’s been saying that for a long time. Read more below.
Sanchez was recently talking toDread Centralabout his new film,Exists, and said the following aboutThe Blair Witch Project 3:
We have been talking to Lionsgate and there has been a little bit of movement but nothing is concrete. The film seems inevitable to me, but really it’s just a matter of it being the right time. I’m thinking it’s going to happen sooner than later at this point, but I always say that. There’s always rumblings and certain ideas being pushed around and such. While I don’t have anything firm to talk about now, it wouldn’t surprise me if something happened within the next year or two.
Story wise, there’s obviously lots of different ways a thirdBlair Witch Project can go. The sequel tried the “Fans who see the movie investigate” angle, but didn’t do it particularly well. You could do that again. You could set it in modern day, as a meta-look back at the phenomenon and then get sucked into the reality. You could go back in time and tell a prequel type story or just pick the story up the next day, with the families of the missing kids going on the hunt.
Honestly though, none of those ideas are particularly exciting, and that’s probably why the film has yet to happen. No doubt, if a really good idea was hatched, “The Blair Witch Project” has enough name recognition to at least make some money. And that’s what Sanchez is saying here. Eventually, one of these ideas will stick.
Also, it’s important to realize the above quote acknowledges this isn’t the first time Sanchez is saying this stuff. He and co-director Daniel Myrick have been discussingThe Blair Witch Project 3for years. Weran stories in 2009andagain in 2011about the possibility. That 2011 interview had this particularly interesting tidbit from Sanchez:
I actually liked the sequel but at the same time it exists in a world outside of the movie. So if we want to do a sequel to ‘Blair Witch Project,’ we have to stay in that world, which ‘Book of Shadows’ didn’t stay in that world. ‘Book of Shadows’ created a different world. It’s like if the sequel to ‘Jaws’ started with shots of people lined up to see ‘Jaws’ in the movie theater. For ‘Book of Shadows’ it worked in a certain way but to me my biggest gripe with Artisan was you shouldn’t have called it ‘Blair Witch 2.’ It would’ve been fine to call it Blair Witch Chronicles. It wasn’t really a sequel to our movie. so it would be a direct sequel to our film living in that mythology of Burkittsville, being possessed, haunted by something.
So, yeah, this is your nearly biennial update onThe Blair Witch Project 3.
Do you think we’ll see aBlair Witch Project 3? What story would you like to be told?
