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The End. We Mean It. We're Pretty Sure.

Kim Hollis: Saw 3D opened to $24.2 million, not quite on the level of Saw II - V but a significant increase from Saw VI. What do you think of this performance? How much credit do you give to the 3D? What is your best guess for the release date of the next Saw film?

Josh Spiegel: Clearly, this movie has only made as much as money as it did because of 3D. Box Office Mojo is reporting that 92% of the film's revenues came from 3D theaters. My guess is: no 3D, no uptick from Saw VI. The performance isn't horrible; even with a higher budget due to the 3D technology, Saw 3D has already made back what it cost, sans marketing. But maybe Lionsgate will soon get the hint that no one really wants to see these movies anymore. A bunch of teenagers are just too damn bored to do anything else but drop 10 bucks on another cheeseball horror movie.





Bruce Hall: Let's assume for a moment that this really IS the final Saw film. Let's imagine that they're not going to change their minds a year or two from now when someone's tracking data tells them it is time to make one more last, final total, absolute end chapter to the series. Much like the big brains behind the Jackass juggernaut, the minds behind this franchise saw the same opportunity to cash in on the kind of technical gimmickry that comes along once in a generation. How could they not? So while it looks impossible to refute the fact that the 3D curiosity got the most butts in seats for Saw this weekend, I think that if I am Lionsgate I will take what I can get.

You don't have to have a marketing degree to know that Saw's best days are behind it but I think if they were going to make one last *ahem* foray into the franchise, now was the time to do it. Let Saw go out with a loud, hokey, bloody, dark, derivative, headache inducing bang, instead of the whimper that would have occurred had this film been released in 2D.

So since I don't live in Candyland I am going to to ahead and assume that this movie is going to outstrip part VI's domestic haul sometime this week. This means 60% of what I just said is garbage. The cynic in me says that the sound of all those cash registers ringing is just too loud to resist. They're already least tossing around concepts for a sequel. They're apparently never going to stop making Friday the 13th films, or Freddy Krueger films, or Hellraiser films, so what reason is there to believe they won't find a way to keep making these lucrative movies until one finally fails to break $10 million? Maybe, maybe not. But I would be willing to wager it'll be on someone's drawing board by next weekend.

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