“Studios are not your friends,” says Daniel Myrick, co-director of the original Blair Witch Project, on not being consulted about the upcoming sequel.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of The Blair Witch Project – arguably one of the most pivotal horror films of the 1990s. Making almost $250m in 1999 on its initial cinema run, the found-footage chiller sparked a franchise that is still going a quarter of a century later.
For the first film’s directors, Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick, the anniversary brings with it mixed feelings. They’ve barely been involved in the series they helped create all those years ago – and it’s a trend that continues into the upcoming sequel, produced by rights holders Lionsgate in partnership with Blumhouse Productions. We heard earlier this year that, when the next Blair Witch was announced, the makers of the first film – such as production designer Ben Rock – were left blindsided by the revelation.
Speaking exclusively to Film Stories as Second Sight releases The Blair Witch Project as an anniversary Blu-ray boxset, Sanchez and Myrick talked about that film’s arduous, borderline experimental production, and also their feelings about the franchise they created.
“It’s always a little bittersweet,” concedes Myrick. “I mean, Ed and I have always had subsequent ideas that expand on the universe and the world that was created for Blair. We’ve always thought that there’s a lot to mine in that whole universe.”
Months after The Blair Witch Project became a viral sensation, production company Artisan Entertainment rushed a sequel into production – 2000’s The Book Of Shadows – without involving the original’s filmmakers. It made money, but was far from the hit the first Blair Witch was. By 2016, the rights to the franchise had passed over to Lionsgate, and that year’s sequel, simply called Blair Witch, performed similarly. Myrick and Sanchez were involved, but only loosely; it was directed by Adam Wingard and written by Simon Barrett.
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As for the upcoming Blumhouse movie – which doesn’t currently have a title – the directors are sanguine about not being asked to write or direct, but argue that they have all sorts of ideas about Blair Witch lore that they could provide. Unfortunately, nobody from either Lionsgate or Blumhouse have asked them to contribute.
“Like Dan said, it is bittersweet,” Sanchez says. “We still love the IP and we’ve been thinking about it for more than 25 years now. And again, we don’t expect to write and direct these movies. We understand how Hollywood works and they’re always looking for the shiny new object, the new filmmaker. And there’s a lot of super talented people out there that can make a great Blair Witch movie.
“To be included again would be nice. Even if they don’t listen to us. Just to pick our brains – and again, like Dan was saying, we have a little bit of a fan base that’s dedicated to the original movie and it would be good press for them to bring us back in. But, we’ll see what happens.”
Nor is this the most contentious story encompassing the Blair Witch series. The three actors who lent their names and likenesses to the original film – and by extension its sequels – have said for years that they were barely paid for their work. Because they weren’t part of a union in 1999, they never received any residuals from the 1999 film’s phenomenal success. They received $300,000 between them in 2004, though that was after they sued Lionsgate for using their names in the subsequent movies without providing any compensation.
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In April 2024, the actors – Heather Donahue, Michael Williams and Joshua Leonard – wrote an open letter to Lionsgate, arguing that they deserved some residual compensation from the millions the franchise has made over the years. Sanchez and Myrick, along with The Blair Witch Project's producers, wrote their own open letter of support.
Sanchez and Myrick chose their words carefully when we brought up those open letters, but suggested that there may have been some positive conversations between the actors and Lionsgate in recent months.
“I chatted with Mike [Williams] earlier this week and they are talking to Blumhouse and Lionsgate in some way, and they are making some progress,” Sanchez said. “They still have no idea what is exactly going to happen, but at least they’re talking, which is great.”
As Myrick said earlier in our interview, the Blair Witch story puts such issues as compensation and creative input into stark relief.
“Studios are not your friends,” he said. “They’re a business, and so we learned a trial by fire in that regard. After that, it’s just the way the business operates. I mean, Lionsgate picked up the rights. They’ve made a couple of attempts at follow-up films that have been moderately successful, but we still hold on to the naive notion that there’s other Blair movies to explore that we feel would be valuable. Certainly to the audience, to the fans. Unfortunately, Lionsgate just hasn’t embraced that approach.”
The Blair Witch Project Limited Edition 2-disc Blu-ray will release on the 11th November, and can be pre-ordered now.
