Jigsaw’s Billion Dollar Game: How the ‘Saw’ Series Dodged Straight-to-Video Purgatory to Become a 10-Film Juggernaut
variety.comWilliam Earl The gruesome “Saw” franchise has grossed more than $1 billion at the global box office — but the original 2004 horror film was destined to be a direct-to-video curio.
That is, until a pair of rollicking test screenings saved it. “The first one we did in Camarillo [Calif.] and it scored so well that Lionsgate was convinced that we padded the audience,” franchise producer Oren Koules remembers. “So they made us do it again in Vegas, but they didn’t tell us until 6 p.m.
that night where the theater was.” Almost 20 years and nine twisty chapters later, “Saw X” (heading to theaters on Sept. 29) is returning to its franchise roots. “Lionsgate did a brand study of ‘Saw’ fans: How many did they watch?
Why did they stop?” franchise producer Mark Burg says. “We decided to make ‘Saw X’ that way. We pivoted from shooting in Eastern Europe to Mexico City, because we found such a giant portion of our fans were Latin.” The research led most notably to the revival of key villain Jigsaw (aka John Kramer, portrayed by Tobin Bell).
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