Before Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick’s The Blair Witch Project had its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 1999, there were various cuts of the films floating around Hollywood (I’ve even heard of a legendary 3+ hours version hitting some execs hands). By the time it hit theaters later that year, it would clock in at a smooth as silk 105 minutes.
But, fans have always dreamed of seeing a longer version, maybe even the extended cuts that existed prior to the film festival premiere. I’m not sure what came of those various versions – maybe they weren’t completed – but they’re no longer in circulation and have never been released in any format. This wouldn’t stop Sanchez from revisiting the footage and creating a new cut of his own.
According to lore, there’s 19+ hours of unusable footage, and Sanchez is open to taking a fresh pass at the film for the modern moviegoer.
“In a couple of weeks I could probably take the original movie and edit a longer version,” he told Found Footage Critic on their podcast. “I know the fans are like ‘everybody wants to see it’… it would be cool to do, honestly. I wouldn’t hesitate to do that if Lionsgate Films hired me. I think it would a lot of fun.
“Start a petition… if I can get enough interest from the fans, I can bring it to Lionsgate Films’ attention.”
Guess what, they did just that. You can sign the petition right here. I’d like to think that the success of Blair Witch, the film’s sequel opening in theaters September 16th, could be enough to warrant a revisit to the classic that started it all. In the meantime, it never hurts to show Lionsgate that there’s a demand for it.
