Lionsgate’s Spiral: From the Book of Saw topped a lackluster box office weekend, pulling in an estimated $8.7 million domestically, a far cry from the $16M of its predecessor Jigsaw.
It’s hard to scream “diminishing returns” when Spiral is the ninth(!) film in the franchise, opened in the (likely) final stages of a pandemic, and was delayed by a full year. Jigsaw, the eighth entry in the SAW series, opened Halloween weekend and managed a global haul of over $100M. It’s impossible to say how Spiral would have performed under different circumstances, but the new landscape provides a huge boost through PVOD and VOD sales, not to mention Lionsgate’s well-known ability to pre-sell a movie into profit prior to its release.
For the hardcore SAW fans out there, I think the games will continue. (International numbers were not available as of this writing.)
Read our review of Spiral right here.
Spiral, directed by Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II-IV), stars Chris Rock & Samuel L. Jackson and follows a sadistic mastermind who unleashes a twisted form of justice…
“Working in the shadow of an esteemed police veteran (Jackson), brash Detective Ezekiel “Zeke” Banks (Rock) and his rookie partner (Max Minghella) take charge of a grisly investigation into murders that are eerily reminiscent of the city’s gruesome past. Unwittingly entrapped in a deepening mystery, Zeke finds himself at the center of the killer’s morbid game.”