The Saw franchise is far from dead. After a sizable box office haul by Saw X and even better reviews, Lionsgate has confirmed Saw XI is in the works. The news was announced Monday evening through the film’s official social media accounts, revealing the film will hit theaters next fall on September 27th.
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Saw X is one of the best-reviewed movies in the franchise, tallying an 80-percent Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It ended up grossing nearly $108 million worldwide against a reported production budget of just $13 million, meaning even after prints and advertising, Lionsgate netted a healthy haul from the film.
Given John Kramer/Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) is canonically dead within the franchise, it stands to reason Saw XI may replicate the formula of its predecessor by becoming a prequel set during the life and times of the horror icon
“I think there is regret,” Saw helmer Kevin Greutert previously told The Hollywood Reporter of killing Jigsaw off too early. “It would be a lot easier to make these films if that hadn’t happened, but at the same time, the first three were largely considered the best of the Saw series. There was a kind of integrity, I think, to really trying to make a trilogy and nothing more. And decisively killing the character off, that integrity, as it was perceived at the time at least, was pretty important in making the story great. But the fact that more movies had to be made, we did the best that we could, and in some cases, it was great to do it through flashbacks and all that. But yeah, there’s definitely a lot of desire to have not killed him off.”
Despite an above-average horror box office, producer Oren Koules previously told us he and the rest of the filmmakers were taking it by day regarding the possibility of a sequel.
“We’re kind of superstitious,” Koules told ComicBook.com earlier this year.. “We tend not to get too far ahead of ourselves. The movie’s going to be released in a few days. For us, we do have ideas for the next one, we haven’t put pent to paper. But this is his story, we really wanted it to be John Kramer’s story and tell a John Kramer story. So for the first 30 minutes of the movie, he’s John Kramer, you don’t have any hint of Jigsaw.”
Saw X is now available wherever movies are sold.