Peacock Users Are Running Out of Time To Watch One of the Biggest Horror Franchises Ever

The streaming era has resulted in plenty of uncertainty as titles constantly shift availability, and Peacock subscribers are about to be hit with that reality as one of the biggest and most successful horror franchises ever departs the platform. The NBCUniversal streamer kickstarted the year with the arrival of dozens of great titles. But as users stream movies like Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and The Shining, they’ll want to fit in a final watch of this soon-to-depart horror franchise.

Across more than two decades and 10 films, the Saw franchise has pulled in massive box office wins to become one of the few horror franchises to reach the $1 billion milestone and the fifth highest-grossing horror franchise of all time – but fans are running out of time to stream it on Peacock. After every film in the series joined NBCUniversal’s streamer in December, the first nine Saw movies are now sitting in the “leaving Peacock soon” section. The only film not tagged for an upcoming removal is the franchise’s most recent installment, Saw X. It’s unclear when exactly the movies will stop streaming on Peacock, but titles in the “leaving Peacock soon” section typically exit by the end of the month.

Saw Is a Horror Masterpiece That Redefined the Genre

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Few horror movies from the 21st century have been as influential to the genre as the original Saw. Produced on a budget of just $1.2 million, the movie’s $103 million worldwide gross proved that low-budget films could be massive successes. The film maximized its small budget to create an immersive, gritty aesthetic that set it apart from more polished horror and defined the genre in the 2000s, and it effectively shifted focus from traditional slashers to psychological horror and popularized the torture porn subgenre. But the movie’s explicit, graphic depictions of physical suffering served a purpose beyond mere shock value, with Jigsaw’s traps a means to explore the human will to survive.

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One of the Biggest Horror Franchises of the 2000s Is Finally Returning (With a Master of the Genre Joining)

Although Saw wasn’t universally loved by critics, scoring just a 50% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie spurred a new wave of intense, low-budget horror films in the early 2000s, and it led the charge with what would become one of the biggest horror franchises ever. Although the quality of those later films is debated as they doubled down on the graphic violence, they’ve proven to be extremely successful, with Saw III scoring the biggest box office win with a $163 million worldwide haul. More than two decades in, the franchise isn’t losing steam, either. In June, Blumhouse acquired the rights to the Saw franchise, including all future shows, films, and other properties. The acquisition brings the original film’s creators, Leigh Whannell and James Wan, back “back into the fold,” Blumhouse saying that the pair will help guide the future of the franchise.

Where to Stream the Saw Franchise After It Leaves HBO Max?

Given that Saw is such a major horror franchise, you’d expect its availability on streaming to be pretty constant. Unfortunately, most of the franchise will be difficult to watch once it exits Peacock. Outside of Saw X seemingly set to remain on Peacock and Spiral: From the Book of Saw also being available on Hulu, the rest of the Saw films currently only stream on Peacock. This means that after they leave the platform, renting or purchasing them will be the only way to watch them unless they join a rival streaming platform sometime in the future.

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