Blair Witch Teen Book Series Announced

Posted on June 23, 2000

Parachute Publishing, Artisan Entertainment and Random House Children's Books have announced that Parachute Publishing will create an original fiction series inspired by the legend of the Blair Witch. Artisan's film, The Blair Witch Project, grossed more than $250 million worldwide last summer. Bantam Books for Young Readers, a young adult paperback imprint of Random House, will market and distribute the book series, entitled The Blair Witch Files. The series will launch in late summer prior to Artisan's release of Blair Witch 2 in fall 2000.

Cade Merrill, a cousin of Heather Donahue, one of the filmmakers whose disappearance was captured in the 1999 film, has taken up the search for the Blair Witch and his findings form the basis of the book series. The first two titles -- The Witch's Daughter and The Dark Room -- will go on sale throughout the United States and Canada on August 8, 2000. The 160-page paperbacks will carry a suggested retail price of $4.99. Books will be published every other month thereafter.

``Artisan's fabulous marketing genius made the Blair Witch legend real. The Blair Witch Files book series will extend that legend into print,'' said Joan Waricha, co-chair of Parachute Publishing's parent company, Parachute Properties. ``All of us at Parachute are thrilled to be working with Artisan and Bantam on this project.''

``Given the enormous popularity of 'The Blair Witch Project,' we believe this series will be a hit among teens across the country,'' commented Craig Virden, President and Publisher of Random House Children's Books. ``We plan to support the launch of The Blair Witch Files with an extensive marketing and publicity campaign in which the Internet will play a key role. The Random House campaign will include an exclusive national sweepstakes offering consumers the chance to win a trip to the set of the forthcoming Blair Witch 3 which begins production later this year. The sweepstakes will be the focus of a national television and print advertising campaign coinciding with the release of the books in August.''