It was 1999, the internet was still dial-up, and a low-budget film about three student filmmakers disappearing in the Maryland woods convinced a significant portion of the moviegoing public that what they were watching was real. The Blair Witch Project opened wide in July of that year and did not leave quietly. Twenty-six years later, Lionsgate wants that feeling back.
The studio confirmed this week that its reboot of the supernatural thriller is dated for September 24, 2027, dropping it into the pre-Halloween horror corridor that has reliably rewarded the genre for the better part of two decades. The announcement, reported by Variety, offers little in the way of cast or creative team details — for now, the date is the news.
The original film, shot for somewhere in the neighbourhood of $60,000, grossed around $250 million worldwide and essentially handed Hollywood the found-footage template. Every shaky camcorder ghost film that followed owes it a debt it will never fully repay. A 2016 sequel, also titled Blair Witch, tried to extend the mythology with a bigger budget and more explicit scares. It made back its costs but not much more, and the critical reception was polite at best.
The 2027 reboot lands during a broader industry moment when IP nostalgia is doing heavy lifting at the box office, and horror in particular has shown a consistent appetite for origin-story revisits. Whether Lionsgate's version can replicate the cultural panic of the original — or simply carve out a profitable opening weekend in a crowded autumn slate — will depend heavily on the creative announcement that presumably follows. That announcement has not yet been made.