Spiral: From the Book of Saw has pushed the Saw franchise past a major milestone, with Twisted Pictures and Lionsgate Films' long-running horror franchise having now earned a grand total of over $1 billion at the box office.
Spiral is currently wrapping up its second weekend in theaters. Per Deadline, the Saw spinoff film made $1.38 million at the domestic box office this past Friday, a 63 percent drop from its opening Friday. Spiral is expected to finish its second weekend with a haul of $4.55 million -- a 48 percent decline from last weekend in 2,991 theaters -- bringing its estimated domestic box office total to just over $15.8 million. Meanwhile, the film earned an additional $2.67 million from 21 overseas markets over the weekend, bringing its foreign total to $6.72 million and its worldwide box office total to over $22.5 million.
While these are rather low numbers, it's important to note that Spiral's 48 percent second weekend decline at the domestic box office is actually pretty good as far as horror films go. Prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, horror movies could often expect to see a box office drop of 60 percent or more from their opening weekend to their second weekend. Moreover, Lionsgate has announced that while Spiral's second weekend haul isn't massive in its own right, it has pushed the Saw franchise at large past the $1 billion mark, with the company reporting a grand total of $1,000,799,533.
The franchise began proper in 2004 with director James Wan's Saw, which was based on Wan's 2003 short film of the same name. 2004's Saw made $103.9 million worldwide and was followed by 2005's Saw II ($147.7 million), 2006's Saw III ($164.9 million), 2007's Saw IV ($139.4 million), 2008's Saw V ($113.9 million), 2009's Saw VI ($68.2 million), 2010's Saw 3D/Saw: The Final Chapter ($136.2 million) and 2017's Jigsaw ($103 million).
Spiral is directed by by Darren Lynn Bousman, who previously helmed Saw II, Saw III and Saw IV. A 10th film in the main Saw franchise, Saw X, is currently in development, though Bousman clarified, "Just because we made Spiral doesn't mean Saw ceases to exist. Just because Spiral is here, that doesn't mean there won't be a Saw IX. This is not the ninth film in the Saw franchise. There easily could be a Saw IX that follows Jigsaw. I think they're waiting to see how [Spiral] goes and how audiences respond to determine what happens next." That being said, Lionsgate Television is also in early talks to develop a TV series based on Spiral.
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, Spiral: From the Book of Saw stars Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols and Zoie Palmer. The film is currently in theaters.
Source: Deadline, Bloody Disgusting