With its second place showing at the box-office this weekend, “Saw V” helped the “Saw” series became the highest grossing horror franchise in history.
The $30 million box-office take pushed the franchise’s total domestic gross at the box-office to $316 million. That puts it ahead of the previous heavy-weight in the series, the “Friday the 13th” series of films.
Before this weekend, the top spot was a close race between two popular horror icons, Freddy and Jason. Jason was slightly ahead of Freddy and the “Nightmare on Elm Street Franchise.” “Friday the 13th” had a $315 million gross at the box-office and “Nightmare” has taken in $307 million.
And while “Saw” may be on top for now, it could get knocked off early next year when a reboot of the “Friday the 13th” franchise opens.
Of course, that doesn’t take into account the inevitable “Saw VI” coming to a theater near you at this time next year.
It has certainly turned character actor Tobin Bell into a big lead star. But what does it say about Western society as a whole that it seems to enjoy watching others being tortured merciously?
Yet another sign of the apocalypse, up there with Knight Rider, the stupid Chihuahua movie, and my sister (don’t ask). 🙂
I don’t think it says anything about soceity. I seem to recall the horror films of my youth (Friday the 13th, Halloween, etc) being denounced and said denouncers asking what does this say about soceity, that so many people enjoy watching teenagers getting hacked to pieces immediately after having sex.
Doubt I’ll be seeing it, though.
Chad, you have proven my point. The more blantantly violent the films have become over the decades, the less sensitive the viewing audience becomes until such time that…..who knows, in another two or three generations snuff films may become mainstream entertainment.
The only thing that I have proven is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The Saw films of today aren’t all that more violent than the Friday the 13th or the George Romero zombie films of the past 30 years. As for the Snuff movie thing, please. Porn has been considered the gateway to that little soceital bugbear for well over 40 years and, despite predictions of it coming to pass since the 1960s, if not before, there has not been a single documented instance of a snuff film. Why? Because the desire for violent fantasy does not, and never will, lead to the desire for a violent reality. People watch these film to escape into a harmless fantasy and when they do go to far, they lose their commercial popularity and fall off the pop culture radar into the oblivion that they have come to richly deserve.
Until someone decides to produce a remake for the next generation of cinematic thrill seekers, that is.
So, is this just a dollar figure, or does it take inflation into account? Sorry, but I remember seeing the first Nightmare on Elm Street in the theater, and I know I didn’t pay $10 to go see it! Heck, I may not have even payed half that.