Imagine This: Lionsgate to Collab With Blumhouse to “Reimagine” Horror Films, Starting With ‘Blair Witch’
One of the most profitable films of all time, made on a shoestring budget, is being remade with a lot more cash.
Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group and Jason Blum announced jointly Wednesday that the two companies are partnering to develop and produced a reimagined version of 1999’s The Blair Witch Project.
Blum will team with producer Roy Lee on the new Blair Witch project; Lee was the producer for the 2016 follow-up to the hit original, titled simply Blair Witch.
The Blair Witch Project was released in 1999 and grossed $248 million at the box office against production costs of only $35,000 (though its estimated that post production could have cost up to half a million more.) Project spawned two additional films in the franchise, as well as a Lionsgate-operated Las Vegas escape room experience called Escape Blair Witch.
The new film is the first in a multi-picture deal that will see Blumhouse reworking other horror films in the Lionsgate catalog.
Fogelson praised Blum in his announcement of the new collaboration. “I have been incredibly fortunate to work with Jason many times over the years. We forged a strong relationship on The Purge when I was at Universal, and we launched STX with his film The Gift. There is no one better at this genre than the team at Blumhouse,” he said.
Fogelson didn’t discuss any plot details for the new Blair Witch film, but said, “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. We couldn’t be more pleased to be working with them on this and other projects we look forward to revealing soon.”
Blum credited Lionsgate’s library, and the Blair Witch Project in particular, for inspiring one of his films. “I’m very grateful to Adam and the team at Lionsgate for letting us play in their sandbox. I’m a huge admirer of The Blair Witch Project, which brought the idea of found-footage horror to mainstream audiences and became a true cultural phenomenon. 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.”
This isn’t Blum’s first time working with an existing IP; the company has recently produced sequels to the Halloween and Exorcist franchises for Universal and in 2014 made a sort-of sequel to the AIP classic The Town that Dreaded Sundown. Lionsgate and Blumhouse also co-produced last month’s terrfying teddy bear thriller Imaginary.