'Saw' Is Now the Most Lucrative Horror Franchise in History
Filed under: Horror, New Releases, Lionsgate Films, Box Office
When you shelled out nine bucks this weekend to see if Jigsaw would do anything new in Saw V (answer: nope), you were also contributing to a milestone. With the Friday-Sunday $30 million haul, the Saw series is now the highest grossing horror franchise in history, with a cumulative domestic gross of $316 million. Just think of all the microcassette tapes and countdown timers that kind of money could buy!Of course, the other heavy hitters in this field -- Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street -- were mostly released in the 1980s, when movie tickets were a lot cheaper. It's no surprise that a franchise launched in the 2000s would be more lucrative. Still, Saw has made its loot in just five films, compared to Elm Street's eight (including Freddy vs. Jason), Halloween's nine (including last year's remake), and Friday the 13th's eleven (including Freddy vs. Jason again).
A curious fact: Prior to this weekend, the race was surprisingly close. Box Office Mojo has the Friday the 13th series at $315 million, Elm Street at $307 million, and Halloween at $275 million. (Lionsgate's press release touting the Saw achievement has the Halloween series at $307 million, but I don't know where they're getting that from.)
But Jigsaw shouldn't rest on his laurels just yet. The Friday the 13th reboot due in February is liable to put Jason Voorhees in the lead again, although that will be short-lived if the seemingly inevitable Saw VI does indeed appear next October. If the Friday remake is successful, though, it could lead to more sequels and more competition. Personally, I'd rather have a mute, hockey-masked punisher as the all-time box office champ over a cancer-brained faux-intellectual who can't shut up. But that's just me! You can vote however you want. In the meantime, congrats to Saw for out-grossing Freddy, Michael, and Jason, and congrats to me for not making a pun on the word "grossing."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-26-2008 @ 8:40PM
Riley Freeman said...
friday the 13 has no business coming back. these stupid slasher films. are useless. jason mike myers texas chainsaw its the same stuff. the bad guy doesnt have a single line. a bunch of white people getting hacked to death w with a token black guy and then movie is done. i dont even get how people can continue watching these things.
saw what u will about saw. but theres an actually premise a proper story even though its weird since jigsaw is dead. at least the killing happens for a reason.
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10-27-2008 @ 4:29PM
Hairyman said...
You should have taken the money that you spent on your ticket to the latest torture-porn Saw movie and spent it on Hooked on Phonics. Your writing is atrocious. That is nothing to say that your points are terrible. Your comments only prove that the Saw franchise is not for the smart. The only good one is the first. After that, they all went downhill.
10-26-2008 @ 10:04PM
Batzarro said...
Oh, I get it! Saw is for JIGsaw.
Well, live it up, Saw series. One day you to will remember the days before they ruined you by sending you into space, putting psychics in there or some other stuff.
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10-26-2008 @ 11:00PM
paul said...
Haven't seen the first one. Garbage in, garbage out is my motto.
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10-27-2008 @ 3:17AM
facebookfake said...
horror? since when is saw horror?.
most lucrative snuff film would be more appropriate.
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10-27-2008 @ 5:55AM
NP said...
"a cancer-brained faux-intellectual who can't shut up"
Amen. The Saw films are so horrible--exploitation justified through oversimplified morality and bubblegum psychoanalysis.
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10-27-2008 @ 10:05AM
Bignole said...
According to Wikipedia, and in this case it's all sourced from reliable sources:
"When comparing Friday the 13th with the other top-grossing American horror franchises—A Nightmare on Elm Street, Child's Play, Halloween, Scream, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre—and adjusting for the 2008 inflation,[42] Friday the 13th is the highest grossing horror franchise, in the United States, at approximately $591.5 million.[43] The Hannibal Lecter film series follows closely with $560.4 million,[44] A Nightmare on Elm Street with $503.3 million,[45] Halloween with $498.6 million,[46] Scream with $385.2 million,[47] Psycho with $358.2 million,[48] Saw with 336 million,[49] The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with $304.2 million,[50] and the Child's Play film series rounding out the list with approximately $193.2 million."
--So, really, Saw is no where near the most lucrative horror franchise. It barely beats out The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series, which only has 4 films (one of them that didn't even make 1 million dollars)
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10-27-2008 @ 10:40AM
mikull said...
Your own remark --
"Of course, the other heavy hitters in this field -- Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street -- were mostly released in the 1980s, when movie tickets were a lot cheaper"
Coupled with Bignole's note shows your entire article is mute. Inflation changed everything, and even still your numbers are off.
How would Tyler say it? "maybe you shouldn't bring me every little piece of trash you happen to pick up..." like this Saw nonsense. Ppph.. kids these days.
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10-27-2008 @ 11:47AM
carg0 said...
american's in general (let alone moviegoers) in this day and age are dumber than ever so im not suprised by this. no matter how bad the movies have been, like lemmings, they keep coming back. all you have to do is show them just enough superficial eye-candy and/or shallow pop-culture one-liners in the trailers/commercials and you've got them. just look at the success of those two hacks, Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer.
it's the deadly result of when good advertising meets it's dumb target audience. *shrug*
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10-27-2008 @ 1:22PM
NP said...
If you are going to call people dumb, you might want to make sure you're not making a dumb mistake in the process--using a possessive when you intended to use a plural. Americans, not American's, genius.
10-27-2008 @ 1:40PM
Robert said...
Whoops carg0 , you fail. Now who's dumber than ever?
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10-27-2008 @ 5:50PM
Riley Freeman said...
i love how quick some of u are to jump on stuff. hairyman ur an idiot like all the other idiots that complain about typing on the internet. get a life.
i love how ur all so quick to defend the stupid slasher flicks that have no point to them just random killing.
saw makes a point of punishing bad people. and giving them a chance at life again. ill take that story that makes sense over the crap that has no story no character development. and just a bunch of white people running around screaming
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10-30-2008 @ 6:30AM
nvm said...
Everyone's playing smart these days..stop it !!
now ..I like the "Saw" movies but ...
--->"saw makes a point of punishing bad people. and giving them a chance at life again"
Do you really thing that Jigsaw is the good guy in the story? ..he's killing people, for god's sake.He's a mentally sick man who is smart enough to give his own "justice".The fact that he doesn't believe that what he's doing is wrong should have been a hint for you.. but I guess it's easier to look at things that way when you're 13 or somethin'
and btw if you just don't like the movie .. don't leave hater replies to this comment.. thank you
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10-27-2008 @ 10:55PM
Francis said...
Um, I'm just wondering why the Alien/AVP franchise doesn't count as horror. Clearly, it's made more money than just 319 million.
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10-28-2008 @ 11:08AM
Billy_005 said...
This comment thread is ridiculous, to truly appreciate saw u have to see all of them, there is no doubt that this franchise is THE BEST HORROR FRANCHISE EVER!!!! These movies have a premise, a plot, a reason for the killings, and everyone who goes against that thought is way off in that assumption. Truly this movie was the best movie of the franchise so far and i feel that SAW VI will be even better. WIth the plot being more involved now than ever it improves the movie so that people who have enjoyed the SAW series for what it is, a psychological thriller and horror movie with a serious plot, it creates more improved movies for those of us who enjoy a movie where attention must be paid to minor detail. Sorry the SAW series has evolved beyond the lame slasher films of the 1980's where someone only had to kill one person and it led to them becoming a horrow icon. Now it takes more, with SAW there is thought processes that are followed and specifications that you must go buy to teach a lesson. Realistically SAW is the #1 Horror movie of all time and as far as everyone who disses it i hope they make a hundred of them just to spite you because they will all be good because it can go on for as long as the directors want it to.
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