Original Blair Witch team added to reboot after voicing outrage

The reboot of The Blair Witch Project will now boast those involved with the original as producers after they voiced their frustration.

The 1999 indie smash was made for $35,000 but made $248m, becoming one of the most profitable films ever made.

In 2024, a new take was announced from Lionsgate in conjunction with Blumhouse, the company behind genre hits such as The Purge, Get Out and Five Nights at Freddy’s.

Those involved with the original came out to express their annoyance over not being involved with the new version after previously being shut out of the 2000 and 2016 sequels, both of which failed to recapture the critical or commercial success of the first film.

Joshua Leonard, who was one of the film’s three leads, posted on Instagram that it was “25 years of disrespect from the folks who’ve pocketed the lion’s share (pun intended) of the profits from OUR work, and that feels both icky and classless”.

Ben Rock, who was a production designer on the film, also said they had been “overlooked” and suggested that given the sequels both failed to find an audience, it would be wise to involve the original creators for another attempt.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, both Leonard and co-star Michael C Williams will serve as executive producers on the new take alongside Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick, who served as the original directing team, and Gregg Hale, who was a producer.

Heather Donahue, who also starred in the original, previously wrote for the Guardian when the 2016 sequel was released. “On learning of the sequel, I did what any sensible woman would do and drank very nice bourbon in a very nice bathtub while bawling my eyes out,” she wrote. “Nothing I do will ever surpass what I did at 24. My name and face are forever going to be someone else’s intellectual property.

But Leonard added that she was contacted and asked what could be done to show appreciation of her work in the first film. “They made sure my last name wasn’t used anywhere,” she wrote. In their press materials, their protagonist goes in search of his “sister” but they don’t use my name. For all the talk of Hollywood being populated with jerks and sharks, these guys were actually being considerate and were genuinely concerned that this would not be any more disruptive to my life than was inevitable.”