Haven’t we already ‘Saw’ it?

What a lovely morning Monday turned out to be. Popping open my laptop, I made my way to the box office results from the weekend fully expecting Saw VI to be staring back at me from the top. That wasn’t the case.

Showing on just fewer than 2,000 screens, Paranormal Activity slammed the newest Saw flick, almost guaranteeing it will be a nice little flopper this fall. Look at the progression of the series, should that really be a surprise?

The first two installments of the Saw franchise garnered good box office returns and OK reviews at sites such as RottenTomatoes.com. But look at the returns and reviews; you see a steady decline as the series has worn on. There was a jump from the first to second movie, but since a steady drop. The simple reason being — we’ve already seen what you have to offer.

True followers will continue with the series as long as the filmmakers find even a few new ways to slash and ravage characters, but the general moviegoer wants something a little more. Sure, the Friday the 13th series has had its moments of suckiness, but it also has one kickass main character. What does Saw have? A seemingly endless array of gimmicky ways to make people die. Whoopee! Give an idiot a pencil and they can do that.

So, why would a studio continue to produce a series that continues to drop at the box office? Simple economics my friends. The production cost on the franchise is ridiculously low, so it usually makes it money in the first week or so. It’s the same as with the Planet of the Apes films. A lower budget resulted in a lesser product.

The film opened on 3,036 screens and earned a whopping $14 million, for a $4,650 per screen opening. In contrast, Paranormal Activity pulled $10,850 per screen, having opened on just 1,945. To put it even more in perspective, Hotel for Dogs and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past had better openings than Saw VI. Ouch.

What really astonishes me is the fact they are already revving up for a Saw VII and beyond. There have also been rumors of it going until it celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2014. Yikes!

With Michael Jackson’s ‘This is It’ opening and Paranormal Activity and Law Abiding Citizen still going strong, it’s quite possible Saw VI will finds itself in third or worse come next Monday.

In closing, I’d like to ask another question for our friends in sunny Southern California “Where the hell is my Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day?” Release it to coincide with All Saints Day — brilliant. Release it on a limited run — yeah, not so much. Keep trying though; I’m sure you’ll figure it out one of these days boys and girls.