Can ‘Jigsaw’ Revive Torture Horror at the Box Office?
The final weekend of October will be one of the lowest-grossing weekends at the box office this year, as none of this week’s wide releases are expected to post an opening weekend greater than $25 million.
Lionsgate’s “Jigsaw,” the eighth installment in the gory “Saw” series and the first since “Saw 3D: The Final Chapter” came out in 2010, is expected to take the top spot.
Much has changed in the seven years since “Saw” ended its reign atop the horror movie world, as Blumhouse has become the genre’s top dog with films like “Get Out” and the “Purge” series, while tastes have shifted from torture to the occult with the rise of “The Conjuring.”
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For now, it looks like not a lot of audiences are interested in playing another game with “Jigsaw,” as the film is looking at an opening in the high teens from 2,800 screens. If “Jigsaw” opens in that range, the only film it would beat is “Saw VI,” which opened to $14.1 million in 2009.
If it opens on the lower end of that range, it would fall short of the $18 million opening made by the first “Saw” back in 2004. No Rotten Tomatoes score has been registered yet, but don’t expect critics to praise this film — no “Saw” movie has ever posted a Tomatometer score higher than 48 percent.
“Jigsaw” picks up several years after 2010’s “Saw 3D,” with signs of Jigsaw’s deadly traps starting to reappear, hinting that someone is continuing the grisly legacy of John Kramer. Peter and Michael Spierig are directing from a script by Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger.
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This weekend’s other big releases, Paramount/Black Bear’s “Suburbicon” and Universal/DreamWorks’ “Thank You for Your Service,” aren’t expected to make big waves either.
Director George Clooney’s “Suburbicon,” which premiered at Venice and Toronto earlier this month, is projected to open with $5-7 million this weekend from 2,046 screens, while “Thank You For Your Service” is looking at an opening in the same range from 2,054 screens.
Neither film has blown critics away, with “Suburbicon” currently holding a 38 percent RT score and “Thank You for Your Service” standing at 57 percent.
“Suburbicon” is a black comedy starring Matt Damon as a husband and father who navigates the murderous underbelly of his seemingly idyllic 1950s suburb. Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac also star, with Clooney writing the script with Grant Heslov and the Coen Brothers.
“Thank You for Your Service” stars Miles Teller, Beulah Koale, and Joe Cole as a trio of soldiers who struggle with PTSD after completing tours in Iraq. Haley Bennett and Amy Schumer also star, with Jason Hall writing and directing the adaptation of David Finkel’s novel of the same name.
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