Back in 2004, Lionsgate unleashed a small indie horror film that it had acquired onto the world, that being Saw. Succeeding beyond the studio’s wildest dreams, Saw made over $100 million worldwide on a tiny $1.2 million budget, launching the Hollywood careers of director James Wan and actor/writer Leigh Whannell along the way. Naturally, that type of profit led to an ongoing franchise that held strong at the box office for awhile, before being usurped as the most popular theatrical Halloween tradition by the Paranormal Activity series. Saw’s last entry to date – 2010’s Saw 3D: The Final Chapter – still managed to earn a good deal of money, but a largely negative fan reception seemed to spell the end for the series.
Rumors of an eighth Saw installment have arisen a few times in recent years, but always seemed to be debunked as quickly as they had appeared. That is until earlier this year, when reports suggested that Lionsgate had hired the writing duo of Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger (Piranha 3D) to pen the script for a new film, entitled Saw: Legacy. Beyond the fact that the script was being written – and that Wan and Whannel were set to return as executive producers – info on Saw: Legacy was nearly nonexistent at the time.
Thankfully for fans, today brings news of a possible filming date for Saw: Legacy, courtesy of a production listing on the website of Vancouver film industry union IATSE873 (h/t Bloody Disgusting). The listing says that filming on Saw: Legacy is scheduled to begin on September 12th and conclude on October 21st.
While just over a month certainly isn’t a lot of production time, that kind of tight scheduling is fairly normal for lower-budgeted horror films. Listed as producers are Dan Heffner and Oren Koules, who’ve been a part of every previous Saw film. Sadly, no director is named, so Jigsaw devotees will have to wait a little longer to find out who’ll be taking the reigns.
One thing that still remains completely unclear is just how Saw: Legacy will serve to continue the franchise. John “Jigsaw” Kramer (Tobin Bell) has been dead since Saw III, only appearing in the following sequels via flashback. His work was subsequently continued by psychotic detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), a Jigsaw protege who employed arguably even more brutal methods of torture when crafting traps for his victims. Hoffman was left for dead at the end of Saw 3D, in a manner similar to Dr. Lawrence Gordon’s (Cary Elwes) fate at the end of the original Saw film. Still, if Gordon was able to eventually return, Hoffman could very well still be alive as well.
Of course, with nearly 6 years having passed since Saw 3D, producers could simply opt to start fresh with a new villain who perhaps shares Jigsaw’s methods. Does the world really need another Saw movie? Maybe, maybe not, but Lionsgate – who had a not-so-great year at the box office in 2015 – are definitely hoping that a new generation of moviegoers will “want to play a game.”
We’ll keep you updated on Saw: Legacy as more information becomes available.
Saw: Legacy Expected to Begin Filming in September?