It should come as no surprise that the heavily-promoted SAW III, the third installment in the successful SAW franchise, was the top box office earner this weekend, bringing in just under $35M. The theater I saw it at was a multiplex (what theaters today arent??) and the film was on three(!) screens. ET THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL was the first movie I recall being on multiple screens at theaters under the same roof, and that was on June 11, 1982 at what was then the start of the summer movie season.
Despite claims by the director that he will stop with the third SAW film, Boxofficemojo.com already has a release date for SAW IV on 10/26/07. Whether or not the original behind-the-scenes folks will return remains to be seen, but I cant imagine them turning down a guaranteed return on ones investment as these films have proven to be. Lions Gate is proving itself to be THE company to release horror films, both theatrically and in ancillary markets such as cable, DVD, forthcoming Internet streaming and legal downloads, etc.
SAW is now more popular than ever, with the original animatronic doll in SAW III fetching just over $14K on Ebay. Whatever the future holds for this franchise, I just hope that they dont team up Jigsaw with Michael, Jason, or Freddy!
