Why Blair Witch 2016 Was Originally Called The Woods
Here's why 2016 sequel Blair Witch first went under the title The Woods. The Blair Witch Project was a micro-budget independent production directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez. The film is shot in a documentary format, with three students researching the legend of the Blair Witch in Burkittsville before venturing into the woods and disappearing. They're never seen again, though their recovered footage - which depicts how they got lost and seemingly stalked by the titular witch - is later recovered.
The Blair Witch Project had a major impact on the horror genre and was one of the first films to really use the internet as a marketing tool, with the movie initially being sold as a real documentary. While found footage had been seen before in the likes of 1980's notorious Cannibal Holocaust, The Blair Witch Project was the first to popularise it. The film was an enormous success, which spawned a range of spinoff novels, documentaries and even Blair Witch video games. It also received a 2000 sequel in the form of Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, which received weak reviews and grossed significantly less than the first film.
That said, Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 was still a solid hit, but it took a long time for the series to return. Blair Witch from 2016 was directed by Adam Wingard (Death Note) and written by Simon Barrett, and featured the brother of The Blair Witch Project's Heather heading into the woods where she disappeared 20 years before to look for clues. He and his friends essentially suffer the same fate, but manage to uncover more of the lore surrounding the witch. The announcement of Blair Witch took many by surprise, however, with the film originally being marketed as an original horror movie called The Woods.
Early posters bore The Woods moniker and even a trailer was put out with this title. Since the marketing of The Blair Witch Project was such a major reason for its success, the executives at Lionsgate decided another innovative campaign was needed. To keep the existence of Blair Witch secret early scripts went under the working title The Woods, and it was decided at an early point the film would be known by this name during production and early promotion
Even key crew members and staff at Lionsgate were unaware it was a secret Blair Witch sequel, with the studio going so far as to release a trailer with The Woods title and no hints of its connection to the series. Simon Barrett also stated it's secrecy helped shield it from a backlash from fans. Early posters for The Woods left some negative space in the treeline that was later filled on Blair Witch posters, revealing the famous stickman symbol.
The Woods was eventually revealed as Blair Witch in July 2016, but while this clever marketing movie helped build buzz, the film itself would eventually only gross a modest $45 million worldwide. Since Blair Witch was quite low-budget it still turned a profit, but the result was underwhelming for an iconic name like The Blair Witch Project. It probably didn't help that outside of its clever marketing, the sequel didn't receive great reviews and did little to innovate the found footage format.