
When accounting for its highly successful marketing strategy, though, The Blair Witch Project budget blew up to nearly $8 million. Myrick and Sánchez stretched The Blair Witch Project budget in part with a marketing campaign to convince audiences that the film was real found footage of missing students.
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This early marketing strategy to position the footage as real worked, and an undisclosed investment sum was provided for Myrick and Sánchez to complete The Blair Witch Project movie in full. However, the co-directors did present an eight-minute documentary to film investors with the indication that the footage was legitimate and the individuals in it were indeed missing. This potentially points to self-funding by Myrick and Sánchez. Where did the money come from for The Blair Witch Project budget?Īvailable Blair Witch budget breakdowns provide little information on where the initial funds for principal photography came from. Though figures vary, the final Blair Witch budget before its Sundance debut sits at $200,000 to $750,000. Those numbers account for a number of needs, including a sound remix and transfer to 35mm. Some sources further indicate that additional costs were up to several hundred-thousand dollars before the Sundance premiere. However, at least $25,000 more was spent on post-production. How much did it cost to make The Blair Witch Project? For its initial $35,000 budget, it became a horror film classic that made millions and was instantly identifiable by iconic imagery. Of that number, nearly $25,000 went to talent costs, as each actor was paid $1,000 per day for the eight-day shoot. The best estimate for The Blair Witch Project budget breakdown is that principal photography cost approximately $35,000. How much did it cost to make The Blair Witch Project? Others in this category include the indie classic Halloween (1978) and Blair Witch’s found-footage peer Paranormal Activity (2007). Nearly 25 years later, The Blair Witch Project budget and profit return have kept the film as one of the most profitable horror flicks ever.


The Blair Witch Project movie budget was initially between $35,000 and $60,000 with an eventual worldwide box office of just over $248 million. From there, the film’s distribution rights were bought by Artisan Entertainment for $1.1 million. When production wrapped, Myrick and Sánchez had nearly 20 hours of footage to cull into a tight 90 minutes for what would be The Blair Witch Project movie premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Especially at night, production would make terrifying sounds, shake the tents, and resort to other harassing measures to keep their actors exhausted and on high alert.

In addition to the isolation the actors endured during the shoot, Myrick, Sánchez, and the rest of the Blair Witch crew relied on other tactics to get “authentic” performances from them.

Williams, and Joshua Leonard as their leads.Ĭast and crew then headed off to the Maryland woods to film for eight days and shot the indie flick – for 24 hours a day! To fully immerse the actors in their roles, production kept interactions with them to a minimum.ĭonahue, Williams, and Leonard would instead go to various checkpoints each day to find notes from the directors, as well as fresh batteries for their cameras and modest food supplies. Myrick and Sánchez eventually cast Heather Donahue, Michael C. They decided early on that they wanted their actors to improvise it instead. The two crafted a 35-page screenplay that was deliberately lacking in dialogue.
