They're now at the point where they're ready to do a Blair Witch 3, once again sharing writing and directing. They'd pick up from where the original left off, pretending Blair Witch 2 never happened. The duo recently went on a drive through their original Blair Witch haunts, about a half hour from Sánchez's Maryland home, looking for inspiration.
They've worked up a treatment for a new story, which would involve original cast members Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael C. Williams, albeit in smaller roles.
"We're at the step where we're about to pitch to Lionsgate, which owns the movie rights now. It's pretty much up to them. They can completely squash it or greenlight it."
They've worked up a treatment for a new story, which would involve original cast members Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael C. Williams, albeit in smaller roles.
"We're at the step where we're about to pitch to Lionsgate, which owns the movie rights now. It's pretty much up to them. They can completely squash it or greenlight it."
for the full article where Sanchez speaks about Paranormal Activity and the new narrative structure for the third film. We'll be sure to keep you posted as new information on this project comes in.
Comments (37)
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Vanboy
Yeah Pumafiend. Although I haven't seenPA yet, I agree what you said about The Blair Witch. And what you said about, geting taken out ofthe movie with the, "Why would he do that" is totally true. Good call.
Well Celluloid, you're just a cynic then. Nothing can scare you, because your a tough guy. Is that it?
Well, it's about ten years after the first Blair, so if they were going to make it work, by having the original actors star in it, they could pull a storyline from true headlines. Remember the girl who was kept captive for all of those years and was a sex slave to that hillbilly? Why not have the original actors being held, in a dungeon of sorts, and then they get found by four other film students (like ridgl suggested) but then they all get lost again and the baddie is stalking them in the woods. But in this one, the baddie finally gets killed.
2 years agoby @vanboyFlag
CelluloidDreams
ROFL!!! WOW! "The Blair Witch Project" was sh*t!!!
I remember way back in 1999 living in Denver, Co waiting for over 2 hrs in the snow to seee "The Blair Witch Project" ....I mean come on the marketing campaign was huge ....it looked scary etc!
Then I saw the film ....what a dud!!! I wasn't scared! I laughed!!
If you thought that "Star Wars Episode 1" was the most over-hyped letdown of the year, get ready. "The Blair Witch Project" is so shockingly bad it could have been made by your ninth grade brother's friends on their first camping trip this summer.
2 years agoby @2movieguysFlag
Oli
Hopefully it turns out well...or it's straight-to-dvd lol.
2 years agoby @reviloleeFlag
Wichy
hmmmm....its a good time to come out with another sequel, with people all hyped over paranormal activity. Wasnt crazy about the first though, thought it was a little overdone but maybe this one will be worth a watch depending on its story.
2 years agoby @wichitagalzlFlag
Vanboy
Yeah ridgl, that sounds good!
2 years agoby @vanboyFlag
Vanboy
If they want to make a wad of cash, they'd be stupid to not green light it. I can't wait. Loved Blair Witch! Would love some more.
Seeing the box office take of Paranormal Activity, it's a no-brainer. I hope and pray that the sh*tty Porn Torture film fad has passed, and some real scare flicks get made again.
Bring them on!
2 years agoby @vanboyFlag
Mutant
The trailer shows more than enough, every film does the same. Watching the trailers has all the good scenes.
If they got smart they'll show other slow scene's which would promote the film without ruining it.
It's like seeing a trailer of G.I. Joe, all the good scenes tells the entire story in less than a minute.
2 years agoby @zenderFlag
ridgl
My idea is that a group of 4 film students go out to find the bodies of the original 3.
2 years agoby @ridglFlag
T.Clark
"People riding the paranormal train"
Yeah, because Paranormal Activity is the first movie to use a hand-held camera POV...try The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, REC, it's American counterpart Quarantine...hell, even Romero has made one.
How do you know they weren't working on this before Paranormal Activity was released?
If Paranormal Activity is going to get brought up every time a new "startling" movie is reported on like TDK is brought up with every comic book movie, I might have a seizure.
2 years agoby @insertusernamehereFlag
Messenger
Owsin, PA takes a different approach from "horror" movies today. No gore, no millions of dollars to stuff into a non realistic characters or story. It takes the simple road and if you don't find it scary it at least cranks up the tension until the very end. For me the reason it scared me is because EVERYONE has heard things that go bump in the night, unexplained, simple events, that creeps people out and that is what PA harnesses, the simple things that happens very often. I love The Thing but it didn't scare me cause have never seen a blood thirsty monster in the middle of nowhere but I HAVE seen and heard things in my own home that PA brought out and used to scare the hell out of me.
2 years agoby @messengerFlag
IamBATMAN
if you have not seen it todd, how can you say that you could make a better movie?
2 years agoby @iambatmanFlag
Mutant
As I said I will watch it to see what it is like.
When I was twelve I stopped being scared, but I do enjoy horror films still. Hell I was watching the Texas chainsaw remake last night, I enjoyed it.
I've stopped buying DVD's for a while, next year I buy a few.
2 years agoby @zenderFlag
Ownsin
oh wait that's not you Newkill!? ahaha... i guess someone hates you that bad, that he made an account with your name just to mock you... see its not only me man.
2 years agoby @ownsinFlag
penguin_9026
Todd i understand how old school tricks could turn off some audiences but i think they really work out great for this film. Simplicity is what makes this a great film to watch. I think all lot of people who watch films in this type genre are tired of the over the top cheesy thrills in films with multi-million dollar budgets.
2 years agoby @penguin-9026Flag
Mutant
I thought the first Blair witch was awesome, the second one stank. At least its the original crew and they want to ignore the second which is great.
PA looks like a child had put it together. Doors shutting is an old trick, fake bites another old trick, sand prints and the bed sheet moving are all old tricks. I'll watch it when its out on dvd, but not before. Hell, I could make a much better horror film but I won't.
2 years agoby @zenderFlag
Ownsin
btw, i want to thank you Newkill if it wasn't for you i wouldn't of joined movieweb! now im part of its community ^_^! xD.
2 years agoby @ownsinFlag
IamBATMAN
PA is not your typical horror movie... its a branch off of the genre
and for everyone who is saying that the ending was the only good part... the entire movie was building up to that one scene. i agree that the movie was not as scary as promoted, but that ending is absolutely terrifying and that is because of the build up to it which was brilliantly done
2 years agoby @iambatmanFlag
menjr
i'm just saying that just because some people don't like certain movies doesn't mean other people won't or can't. i just get annoyed by the attitude that only movies that some people deem fit should be made. i don't like Twilight, but i don't care that they make more of them and people watch them. i just don't watch them. that simple.
2 years agoby @menjrFlag
Pumafiend
I liked the first Blair Witch, but Paranormal Activity is no Blair Witch 1. I wanted to like PA, but the best part about it was the ending, which was the result of a Spielberg suggested re-shoot.
PA might work better for folks who haven't seen Frailty or the Orphanage, two of the more recent non-slashers that come to mind.
And if we wanna stay with the theme of being tormented in one's home (though by a completely different entity), I recommend the Strangers over PA. Come to think of it, the Others was a pretty damn good trapped-in-a-house ghost story.
I think the main ingredient for a ghost story to work is atmosphere, which I don't think can be fully achieved shooting in digital, or, you know, without one of those pesky cinematographers.
I do hand it to PA's filmmaker's for doing what they did with a mere $15 grand, but it just didn't work for me.
I think the biggest problem I had with it was the male protagonists motivations, like "f*ck calling an expert, I've got baby powder!" - but without which we wouldn't have gotten to the aforementioned ending. His rationale wasn't 'real world' thinking...
It's hard to invest in a film where one of the main characters keeps working against all avenues of logic. Where scene after scene you keep being taken out of the movie by the overwhelming thought of "why the hell would he do that?".
Scary or not, that's just poor film-making.
2 years agoby @pumafiendFlag
Ownsin
Yeah incomb, thankfully i found someone who agrees with me here... i mean seriously how the hell is PA the scariest movie ever??? Hell Evil Dead is a hell way better than this crap, which is for me anyhows since i liked Evil Dead, but Evil Dead is very old, and was the dawn of kind of modern horror movies! and it's really scary at times and it kicks PA anytime, and comparing PA to any good horror movie is just being stupid.
2 years agoby @ownsinFlag
incmob
Ownsin... you are my hero... finally someone that gets it... i totally agree with you. i honestly think the studio promoted it as one of the scariest films, so people would see it. and the showings of the screening... they probably paid half the audience to jump and walk out... i know i have said it before, but it is nice that there are people that truly know what scary and horror films is defined as, especially the ones of old.
2 years agoby @incmobFlag
Ownsin
well i just want to know whats so scary about PA?? i mean all you see is some shaky camera crap, and some screams and doors opening and closing -_-.... is this what you guys call a real horror movie?, is this how far you guys descended? from movies like ( The Thing) and all other great awesome horror movies to this crap? this movie is for kids...
2 years agoby @ownsinFlag
CBF
The first one scared me back in the day. Until the entire cast showed up at the Awards and jumped on stage while the film was still in theaters, and while moviegoers were still trying to figure out if the movie's events were real/not real. There went their box office after that. Book of Shadows was laughable, but a BW3 could be good with the original team back.
2 years agoby @comicbookfanFlag
incmob
what really annoys me, is when people get on here to complain about the people that are annoying them that are annoyed by movies that are annoyingly made by the people that are annoyed with other films that are made by annoying hollywood execs.
did i annoy anyone?
2 years agoby @incmobFlag
menjr
i liked the first BW very much. the second one not so much. and am still waiting to see PA. but i agree with Messenger, i've been reading these message boards for awhile and it is so annoying when people get on here and whine about every movie. They cry about 3d, sequels, prequels, remakes, and reboots. I don't like alot of movies but i don't care if they get made and other people watch them. If i don't like a movie I just don't watch it.
2 years agoby @menjrFlag
-comrade-
...my head hurts already.
2 years agoby @taberjohnson18Flag
IamBATMAN
well put Messenger... P.A. was the best movie going experiences i have had since Grindouse
2 years agoby @iambatmanFlag
the_tall_guy
As long as it's not like the 2nd one, I'm fine.
2 years agoby @the-tall-guyFlag
Messenger
Confirm me as a wuss. I enjoyed the hell out of it. I don't know about any of you guys but I go to the movies to have FUN. Remember, that is what movies are supposed to be about. People see it as something they use to flex their ego muscles with, slamming this movie and that, sad really.
Anyways, PA did much more than most movies with much less.
2 years agoby @messengerFlag
IamBATMAN
after the success of P.A. you had to see this coming
and by the way(just a little note for everyone out there)... for every hater of Paranormal Activity, there is about 10 people who enjoyed it very much so you might as well just get used to it
2 years agoby @iambatmanFlag