The Real Reason It Took So Long To Make 2016's Blair Witch

While "The Blair Witch Project" spinoff movie "Blair Witch: Book of Shadows" was fast-tracked into theaters in 2000, the movie proved to be a mere shadow of its predecessor, taking in $48 million in worldwide ticket sales against a $15 million budget (via Box Office Mojo). It was clear that audiences were no longer under the spell of the groundbreaking original, and they were not alone: The diminishing returns apparently made the franchise's new owner, Lionsgate Entertainment, hesitant about reviving the "Blair Witch" franchise with another sequel.

According to Screen Rant, a third installment was pitched to the original "Blair Witch Project" filmmakers — Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez — in 2009 and it was set to feature some of the original "Project" cast members. But Lionsgate didn't approve the script and the project languished for seven years before finally debuting with the simple title "Blair Witch." 

The premise of "Blair Witch" surrounded the idea of Heather Donahue's brother, James (James Allen McCune) discovering a video on YouTube that purportedly shows his missing sister in Burkittsville's Black Hills Forest in Maryland — the same location where she and her friends had vanished years before. As such, James and a group of friends venture into the frightening environs to find her.