The new Blair Witch Project movie from Lionsgate is coming to a theater near you on Sept. 24, 2027. The date was just unveiled in a cryptic video on social.
The Michael studio had the release date on hold in the Rentrak calendar. The only other wide release set for that time is an untitled DreamWorks Animation film.
Blumhouse and Atomic Monster are involved on the new movie, and YouTube horror space filmmaker Dylan Clark is behind the new pic. He recently signed on with Universal to adapt his horror short Portrait of God, with Sam Raimi and Jordan Peele producing. He is also writing to direct an adaptation of his short film Story Time, with Zak Olkewicz and LD Entertainment producing. He is repped by Lionsgate owned 3 Arts, UTA and Ginsburg Daniels Kallis.
EPs include the 1999 film’s creators Eduardo Sánchez, Daniel Myrick, and Gregg Hale, alongside original film cast members Joshua Leonard and Michael C. Williams, who join Michael Clear, Judson Scott, and Steven Schneider. The new Blair Witch Project is directed by Clark, written by Chris Thomas Devlin and produced by Jason Blum, James Wan, Roy Lee, Adam Hendricks, and Greg Gilreath.
The first Blair Witch Project was acquired out of Sundance in January 1999 by Artisan (which Lionsgate ultimately absorbed) for around $1M, the found footage horror movie from Myrick and Sanchez becoming a near $249M WW global sensation at the late summer B.O. that year. Why’d it work? People thought it was real. Part of the promotion for the film was a documentary that aired on Syfy channel about the Blair Witch legend. Genius marketing back in the day.
The sequel in 2000 Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 was directed and co-written by Joe Berlinger, but fans didn’t buy it with a near $48M WW take at the box office.
Lionsgate rebooted the Blair Witch back in 2016, with Adam Wingard (Godzilla x King, Godzilla vs. Kong) directing off a Simon Barrett screenplay. In a clever marketing move for that film, Lionsgate originally titled the film, The Woods. At the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con, a screening of The Woods was held and it was in that moment that attendees learned, the movie was a new Blair Witch feature.