It was the most profitable camping trip ever, I guess?

Some IMDB links to back this up: if I recollect, aside from side stuff, there's three proper movies in the Blair Witch franchise. (Or 'franchise,' depending on your opinion!) First there was 1999's the Blair Witch Project, which was absurdly profitable since it cost figuratively about $60 to make, and kicked off a barrage of 'found footage' horror that continues to this day. It was quickly followed by Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 in 2000, and I am not 100% sure I, or anyone, saw that one; although I'm pretty sure they advertised the hell out of it in comics of the time and it had the mandatory nu-metal soundtrack to show they had a budget now. They tried again in 2016 with Blair Witch, which was more of a direct sequel to the first; I had it on in the background last month and am unsure on the title character's powers? Best guess, the Blair Witch can make people stand in the corner, interferes with wi-fi, and can mimic voices like the Predator? Geez, pick a lane already...But why should filmmakers and producers be the only ones to cash in here? Why not Mark and Sergio? From 1999, Sergio Aragonés' Blair Which? #1, story by Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier, art by Sergio Aragonés, letters by Stan Sakai.

Sleepy, small town Burkittsville MD is a typical American hamlet; in that it's full of rubes and loudmouths. When word gets out some college kids are filming a "movie" in the woods, rumors and stories fly; mostly of lies parents told their kids to try and get them to behave, or at least shut up for five minutes. "The Blair Witch will get you if you don't stop touching yourself," that sort of thing. As talk spreads, a group of scouts head out for a camping trip, including one with a Hi-8 camera and a dream: to shoot a documentary about a fake horror legend and sell it for big bucks!

But, the scouts are close enough that the hopelessly lost and terrified college kids can hear them yelling and roughhousing (although apparently not talking normally) as well as find bizarre items like cairns of stones (where the scouts buried their trash) and weird pagan crosses (failed craft project/bear traps). The scouts also find the creepy house in the woods, explore it, get bored, and leave; all before the college kids arrive. And the end of the movie occurs, as a demolition crew implodes the derelict house! The tapes are later found, thrown away, found again, sent to Hollywood as a joke, and the rest is history!

I'm guessing Sergio and Mark didn't like that one. Although, that could be jealousy over the dump trucks full of money somebody made outta that. (Not the actors, pretty sure they were shorted there!) I don't think I had this issue new, but they (and Dark Horse) appeared to get this out pretty quick: gotta strike while the iron is hot, I suppose. Aside from craft, repetition, and craft, a lot of Sergio and Mark's career seems to be based on "no one could be that stupid!"/someone is of course that stupid, and they were 110% correct there.