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It's a move that ratchets up the rivalry between Paramount and Lionsgate for Halloween 2010 dominance. Saw franchise partners Twisted Pictures and Lionsgate have just exercised a contractual option and installed Saw VI director Kevin Greutert as director of Saw 3D, the seventh volume of the fright series. He was hired just 2 weeks before shooting will begin, which doesn't leave a lot of prep time. But the goal was to block Paramount, which had hired Greutert to direct Paranormal Activity 2. Because both films are now set for release on October 22nd, and the move came after Paramount set that date. Meanwhile Twisted Pictures, which has held an option on the director from back when he helmed Saw VI, bumped previously announced Saw 3D director David Hackl, who directed Saw V and who will be assigned another film quickly, sources tell me. Both directors have been involved in the Saw films from the beginning. The rivalry between the films began last fall, when Paramount's sleeper hit Paranormal Activity bloodied Twisted/Lionsgate's Saw VI at the box office en route to a $150 million worldwide gross on a $15,000 budget. It will be interesting to see how Paramount responds. But I like this battling a lot.
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Maybe neither film will get made. One can only hope…
I mean really… do we need another Saw and another Paranormal Craptivity which was a rip off of the highly superior film IN MEMORIUM.
Paramount will respond by hiring any hack who can set up a camera to direct PA2. It’s not like it’s rocket science. Someone along the lines of the Dowdle brothers (Quarantine and Poughkeepsie Tapes), most likely.
never seen any of the saw films, but got to admit, that the one sheet pictured does offer up the idea of one massively fucked up and twisted story. am i wrong?
Paranormal Activities 2? Has the town so quickly forgotten the astonishing success of The Blair Witch Project 2?
I was just about to say the same thing.
What a douchebag move to exercise the option.
Paranormal Activity 2? Really? Do they really believe they can fool the movie going audience twice?
Hey, they managed to fool people into seeing six Saw movies…
Well audiences have been fooled into making the Saw series profitable…
Oh God, no — Paranormal Activity 2? Please be as good as Blair Witch 2.
Im sorry, but the Saw movies beat Paranormal Activity any day. They put so much more effort and work into the series, and it being beat by this? is just laughable. But yeah, Saw 7 will definitley win over PA2
The French are grateful for the new movie. The titles for the Saw sequels are unintentionally inept in French:
- Saw VI=Saw Six=Saucisse (=Sausage)
- The new Saw VII=Saw Sept=Chaussette (=Sock), unless they try “Le Septième Saw”=Le Septième Sceau (=The 7th Seal)
At least, Universal (due to French director Szwarc) had the good taste to name the sequel to Jaws, here known as “Les Dents de la mer” (The Teeth from the Sea) “Part 2″, not a regular “2″.
The reason is that “Les Dents de la mer Deux” sounded exactly like “Les Dents de la merde”, which means “The Teeth of the Sh!t”. Anyway, it would be a more fitting title for this umpteenth Saw Sequel.
hilarious…
Second. I just got odd stares for laughing out load @ that. Good on ya.
Merci pour la poste. Tres drole!
total deuche move by a company {LG} full of d-bags in an industry full of d-bags making shitty movie after shitty movie for a society of morons.
then again you had to know the genius behind saw 6{?} was going to be in demand after such a master work. but hey Walt Becker still gets work right? Who makes these fucking decisions?
I know the Saw series went downhill but there is no way PA2 could be a watchable movie
PA2? Doesn’t anyone remember Blair Witch 2? Sequels for films like that don’t work.
Voyeuristic excitement over death and dismemberment is the unfortunate byproduct of a sexually repressed culture. The success of films depicting torture and the constant threat of violent death is not encouraging. However, nobody is truly ASKING for these films. PLEASE STOP WATCHING THESE FILMS. If one truly believes in the power of the mind, it is inexcusable to spend time viewing images depicting torture. Yes, Saw fans, you are all depraved. Adolescent culture is driven by attraction to such extremes, but anyone over the age of 21 should be done with this spiritually bankrupting crap.
sexually repressed culture? wow, where do you live, an amish colony? definitely nowhere approaching mainstream society, or else you need your hypomanic sexual impulses checked out by a therapist
Agree that the cause is hard to pinpoint but the rest of Hoi Polloi’s comment is incredibly valid. I had the same feeling after I saw the first Saw. I walked out thinking, “why?” Why would anyone put so much energy into something so un-constructive. I’ve always felt the “do you value your life” theme was really just a BS excuse to make snuff films.
I’ve been VERY skeptical of PA2 getting made(I thought the first was fresh and captivating). However, due to the fact they are trying to churn it out for this October? Yea…I don’t expect this movie to be good at all.
This is like 2 Monkeys flinging poo at each other over the last molded banana.
Lame. “Saw”… lame and tired franchise. You can only shoot and beat and dissect a dead horse for so long before all the blood and guts evaporates over time. “Paranormal Activity”… hmmm… a desperate attempt to milk money off of society of zombies.
I love it when studios make a-hole moves that ultimately don’t mean anything. “Saw” is a sinking franchise and “Paranormal Activities 2″ will amount to nothing. At the end of the day, this will wind up being a complete non-story but leave some bad blood between studios. What a waste of time.
Saw is beginning to lose its luster much like the orginal slasher films did when the declined in the late 80s into the early 90s. Once a formula is established they don’t deviate from it but the audience gets stale of it. As for PA2 it’s going to have be original in storyline and come across as not a sequel. If it’s formulatic it too will not gross money when released.
hey dumbies, learn your film economics, at a price PA 2 is a no brainer. make it for cheap, spend little p and a and then you have a two pack for dvd. a foreign sales agent could have this fully funded in 10 calls out of europe. the only trick is to not spend too much on marketing unless it proves out..
Since none of you clowns know anything about horror films (Probably too busy sneezing at “pedestrian bi-partisan genres” and gushing over The Book of Eli’s riveting social commentary, right?), allow me to tell you why this story actually matters.
Saw fans are not the brain-dead chronic masturbators you like to imagine; they actually have opinions on film quality and agreed that Saw V was a terrible, poorly-made and ultimately bland film. It was for this reason, along with real competition from Paranormal (A new experience for Saw), that Saw 6 bombed, but guess what? Kevin Greutert actually made a GOOD film, bringing the series back to its peak and making something Saw fans actually liked. Go to IMDb: Usually the place of snarky bottomless criticisms and nitpicks, everyone on the Saw boards agrees it was a great film.
So then David Hackl, the man responsible for the awful Saw V, is given the director’s chair for part seven: Saw fans, not happy. Meanwhile, a Paranormal sequel actually comes to fruition against most expectations, and Greutert is given the director’s chair. Now Lionsgate does this, and most Saw fans are pretty wary, thinking Greutert might phone it in because he’s so pissed at Lionsgate.
You might be asking, “…so what? Saw sucks and so does Paranormal. Horror movies are for braindead 12 yr old scene kids, not sexually-frustrated 15 yr olds like me with self-proclaimed Master’s Degrees in Film Criticism.” Well guess what blockhead, it DOES matter even if you hate these movies because this is an ugly industry practice and deserves criticism. A man wants to create a project he has a lot of passion for, yet he is denied and forced to direct something he doesn’t want because Lionsgate only cares about cash, cash, their annual bonus, DVD income, and then a little more cash? It’s disgusting. Any of you aspiring filmmakers? If so, this should chill your blood.
I don’t care if you hate Saw. If we were talking about Twilight here, it would still be wrong for the studio to do this. So much for art and creativity, eh?
This isn’t the first time this has happened, and that means it won’t be the last. Remember Eminem’s advice: “Say goodbye to Hollywood.” No matter how you imagine it, the reality is worse.
this is not entirely true… Lionsgate does not give annual bonuses…
All true and dandy, but this series had one good film in it, the original one. Notice how the original Lin and Lannel both reduced their roles greatly for the second one, its because they knew that this was not a series from an artistic standpoint. Anyone who is a fan of the latter Saw films (aka Saw 2 and further) cannot have their opinions on the quality of the films be considered informed. As for PA, it was a good student film at best, but everybody knows that the sequel is just Paramounts way of pissing in the audiences face, possibly giving them aids.
” Anyone who is a fan of the latter Saw films (aka Saw 2 and further) cannot have their opinions on the quality of the films be considered informed.”
You do realize Whannel wrote the first three films, right? Clearly he had some interest in seeing the story continue. You don’t know why Wan left the series and neither do I, but if he was against continuing the story, he sure wasn’t against a paycheck, because he’s STILL an executive producer for the series. He’s already signed up for part seven! And for the record, Saw II is actually superior to the original: The story may not be as sharp, but the acting was dramatically improved.
Don’t talk like that if you get pulled over; he’ll ask how much you had to drink tonight.
As much as Saw IV and V were some of the worst films from their respective years, VI was a step in the right direction. While it’s awesome Greutert is back on board, it sucks as his website clearly shows he’s pissed off by the decision making (to the point he had to retract and remove his original statement).
And I’d argue to state that Blair Witch 2 was better than it’s predecessor. Then again, both of those films were awful.
yet another reason why horror films are no longer respected…….
Why do 2 horror movies have to open the same weekend? It didn’t make sense when Final Destination 3D had to open against the abysmal Halloween 2 — and it doesn’t make sense now. both movies could have had more success.
Here’s how the local cinema has discrimated against the populace. For some odd business reason Wilcox Theatres,a small cinema opertator which came to town several years ago,has been doing this. Now in fall it did open with Saw film but it didn’t open with Paranormal Activity. When on the Demand website nearly several hundred locals demanded to come to Vicksburg ms. Never happened. On the screen which got held over for several month was Zombieland. This has been a common practice this local operator has been doing. In fact it’s still playing the Blindside since Novemeber. Now films like Legion nor the Book of Eli didn’t open. But I told the cashiers they’re losing money doing this. Now does holding over a movie this long a commom business practice or a shady business practice. Now Avatar I can understand still playing but hold over some mediocore box office films not performing only pushes the customer into the larger markets.
This is a genius move by Lionsgate.
Fan of the Saw films or not, they have pretty much established for the past 6 years that the Friday before Halloween is the day for SAW,so already paramount is the douchebags for stealing their release date- and not too mention releasing Paranormal Activity 1&2 on SAW days would probably kill the franchise- so HELL YEA i would use contracts and whatever else i had to do to throw that movie off track!
Not sure what that means for Saw 7 though,having a director that doesn’t want to be there..
I LOVE THE SAW MOVIES KEEP EM COMMING A LIL SOONER THE WAIT DRIVES ME CRAZY
The sad part is that the Saw franchise is ending with 8 and 6 was actually good. They already know how they want to end the franchise. It is too bad it looks like people aren’t going to stick with it until the end. I guess it is Lionsgate’s fault for thinking the interest would stay up for 8 installments. Maybe the 3D can revitalize the franchise but the general public doesn’t know 8 is the end and they don’t care to see the whole thing come full circle.
What? I dont think many people realise is that Dave Hackl was fired 1 week before filming!! How will Kevin G. know his way around or be prepared in time to properly begin filming?? Have any of you heard of this jerk named Dan Heffner?? Dan Heffner is the executive producer of the Saw films. He will ruin the entire franchise. If only Producer Oren Koules would spend more time on his films and not on the sale of his hockey team, he might learn just how horribly Dan Heffner is conducting this mess.
stop acting like lionsgate made a dick move, The option for him to direct the 7th film was in the contract THAT KEVIN SIGNED, paramount should have got their own director for pa2, face it the saw are some of the best movies ever and to think that pa2 is gonna beat saw 3d is just laughable .haha
I’m confused how so many people can be putting down PA. That movie was terrifying. And besides, lots and lots of people saw it, and then they told lots of other people to see it, and the word of mouth spread because people came away from the theater happy with their experience. Seems like we should be celebrating any success that brings people into the theaters. But, yeah, I don’t think PA2 could be any good, unless someone has the guts to make it similar to PA and not overload it with cash.
Ok first, Dave Hackl is a great guy. The last saw film didnt do so well because the script, not the director, sucked. Dave did the best he could. The truth is, the people at Lionsgate and Twisted pictures are all confused. The person who needs to be fired is Executive producer Dan Heffner. Dan Heffner is a rude, ego driven jerk who will be the sole person responsible for the downfall of the saw franchise. Yo, Oren Koules, are you listening??
I doubt people are gonna watch Paranormal Activity again I sure as hell wont, what a crappy movie…Im with Saw VII!!
I love horror movies mainly for the scare factor, its like the adrenaline rush you get from sky diving.I have seen all the Saw movies only because i don’t like leaving a story unfinished but the scare factor has gone. The whole point of horror movies is to play on peoples fear just as Paranormal Activity did, it’s sad to think that they are doing a second movie because it’s like doing the same stunt twice it doesn’t have the same thrill.
Is it just me or does that look like Jar Jar Binks in the chair on the Saw poster?
I love the Saw movies, i love the gore and the traps, (and a lot of killing of innocent people) but its seems like the last two films lacked that a really good surprise ending that the first 4 had
im sorry but paranormal activity was scareier than saw
I would love 2 c another paranormal activity I thought the 1st 1 was good n il deffinatly watch the 2nd 1 bt itl have 2 have more action all the way through the film n not jst at the end
I hope they make paranormal activity 2 …..so they can scare the shit out of me again .. i can even sleep alone since I watched paranormal activity