Movies
It’s Up to Lionsgate to Make ‘Blair Witch’ Sequel…
Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick’s 1999 indie The Blair Witch Project was a game changer. It’s sequel, while disappointing at the time of release, has aged like fine wine.
While the groundbreaking first film was the first found-footage of its kind, the 2000 Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 went back to a traditional approach.
The duo have been talking trilogy since the release of Book of Shadows, although nothing has ever come into fruition.
With the recent popularity of found-footage, it’s sort of a shocker that a third film has never gone into production.
Lionsgate, who owns the rights to the franchise (through acquiring Artisan Entertainment), recently acquired Sanchez’ Exists out of the SXSW Film Festival. Reuniting Sanchez with Lionsgate provides hope that this franchise will live on, although it’s up to Lionsgate to pull the trigger.
“You know, Lionsgate owns the property, so it’s obviously up to them right now,” Sanchez tells Movies.com. “We’ve been talking to them for the past four or five years about doing it, but there’s nothing really in the works right now with us. But I think you’re right and maybe just being back at Lionsgate will help move things forward on another Blair Witch movie.”
Responding to talk about it being found-footage, Sanchez ends that notion: “That’s an observation I’ve talked to a lot of people about. There were other found-footage movies, but when Cloverfield did its thing there were a whole bunch of them afterward. I think a lot of people, including us, just didn’t know. We never imagined doing another Blair Witch found-footage movie. Our plan for the sequel is definitely not doing a found-footage movie. It took a while for people to just figure out what Blair had done; I’m not sure why. The film was so experimental and kind of came out of nowhere so people didn’t know what to think of it and weren’t sure if that style could be repeated.”
The Blair Witch Project went on to make $250M worldwide at the box office.
Movies
’28 Years Later’ – Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson Join Long Awaited Sequel
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland (Annihilation, Men), the director and writer behind 2002’s hit horror film 28 Days Later, are reteaming for the long-awaited sequel, 28 Years Later. THR reports that the sequel has cast Jodie Comer (Alone in the Dark, “Killing Eve”), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), and Ralph Fiennes (The Menu).
The plan is for Garland to write 28 Years Later and Boyle to direct, with Garland also planning on writing at least one more sequel to the franchise – director Nia DaCosta is currently in talks to helm the second installment.
No word on plot details as of this time, or who Comer, Taylor-Johnson, and Fiennes may play.
28 Days Later received a follow up in 2007 with 28 Weeks Later, which was executive produced by Boyle and Garland but directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Now, the pair hope to launch a new trilogy with 28 Years Later. The plan is for Garland to write all three entries, with Boyle helming the first installment.
Boyle and Garland will also produce alongside original producer Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice, the former head of Fox Searchlight Pictures, the division of one-time studio Twentieth Century Fox that originally backed the British-made movie and its sequel.
The original film starred Cillian Murphy “as a man who wakes up from a coma after a bicycle accident to find England now a desolate, post-apocalyptic collapse, thanks to a virus that turned its victims into raging killers. The man then navigates the landscape, meeting a survivor played by Naomie Harris and a maniacal army major, played by Christopher Eccleston.”
Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) is on board as executive producer, though the actor isn’t set to appear in the film…yet.
Talks of a third installment in the franchise have been coming and going for the last several years now – at one point, it was going to be titled 28 Months Later – but it looks like this one is finally getting off the ground here in 2024 thanks to this casting news. Stay tuned for more updates soon!
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