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Chris Rock Teams with Lionsgate to Relaunch 'Saw' Horror Franchise

Bullet Club

Banned
Chris Rock Teams with Lionsgate to Relaunch 'Saw' Horror Franchise

The project from the comedian and producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules is described as a re-imagining and a spinning-off of the franchise.

Chris Rock, the comedian known for his standup and his work on Saturday Night Live, and producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules, have teamed up to re-launch the Saw horror franchise for Lionsgate.

The movie company, which releases John Wick 3 on Friday, is moving quickly on the project, which is described as a re-imagining and a spinning-off of the franchise, and has set an Oct. 23, 2020 release date for the new iteration.

The movies, released between 2004 and 2017, grossed over $1 billion for Lionsgate, and centered on a serial killer named Jigsaw and his followers who concocted elaborate death traps with a moral hook for the victims. The initial movie launched the career of filmmaker James Wan and are among the most profitable movies produced.

“When Chris Rock came to us and described in chilling detail his fantastic vision that reimagines and spins-off the world of the notorious Jigsaw Killer, we were all-in,” said Lionsgate motion picture group chairman Joe Drake in a statement. “Saw is one of the highest grossing horror franchises of all-time and it’s one of Lionsgate’s most successful film series. This upcoming film will still be as mind bending and intense as all the previous Saw films. Chris conceived this idea and it will be completely reverential to the legacy of the material while reinvigorating the brand with his wit, creative vision and passion for this classic horror franchise.”

The screenplay is based on a story conceived by Rock and written by Pete Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg. Darren Lynn Bousman, who helmed three of the eight movies in the Saw series, is back as helmer. with Burg and Koules producing.

“I’ve been a fan of Saw since the first film in 2004,” said Rock in Lionsgate's announcement. “I am excited by the opportunity to take this to a really intense and twisted new place.”

Rick is also exec producing, with Wan and Leigh Whannell, who created the original 2004 movie, as well as Daniel Heffner joining him in that capacity.

Stated Burg and Koules: “Chris wants to put his own spin on the Saw franchise in the way Eddie Murphy put a completely fresh perspective on buddy-cop films with 48 Hours. This new Saw is going to be an event film in the making for horror fans. It will have all of the twists and turns and hardcore layers that our fans expect directed by one of the masters of the craft, Darren Lynn Bousman. We can’t wait to get started,.”

Rock will next be seen in Netflix’s Dolemite is My Name! as well as season four of FX’s Fargo.

Source: Hollywood Reporter
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
I stand by Saw 1 as a great movie. Genuinely nasty little hard-boiled cop horror/thriller. It was great. Then they spun out a string of shitty gore porn sequels for easy money.

But I do still love them all as a massive guilty pleasure
 
Comedians and comedy actors moving from comedy to darker areas often results in some good shit. The best example is Bryan Cranston going from Malcolm in the Middle to Breaking Bad.

I don't give two shits about the Saw franchise but maybe Chris has something interesting up his sleeve.
 
The movies, released between 2004 and 2017, grossed over $1 billion for Lionsgate,
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kunonabi

Member
Such a weird direction. Not that matters since the series has been a lost cause ever since they decided to kill off Amanda and pass the mantle to that nobody.
 

Tesseract

Banned
so quick not so well told story time, i went to see one of the shitty sequels in a theater, like saw 7 or w/e

during the climax when the theme started played, my mate busted out a recorder and tooted the saw theme loud as she could

 
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Dthomp

Member
Saw spin off starring Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, David Spade, Paul Blart, and Rob Schneider? Imagine all the joy watching these guys playing themselves getting killed off will bring you
 
but the last one was supposed to be a reboot.. :pie_thinking:
They only said that so nobody would guess the super obvious twist in it. At this point, I'm pretty sure that Jigsaw had the greater New York metropolitan area under his employ without any of them knowing each other.

Comedians and comedy actors moving from comedy to darker areas often results in some good shit.
Robin Williams in One Hour Photo and Father of the Year. Jim Carrey in Truman Show and Sonic the Hedgehog. Seems to be a trend now. The new Halloween was better than everything but the first one, and Jordan Peele is making a name for himself in horror. I think it is pretty telling of our society that comedians are the ones who know how to scare us the best.
 

I_D

Member
Everything after the third movie is practically a comedy already. I don't see the harm in this.

I have a hard time imagining it will be any good, though.
 
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EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
Big movie series, Chris Rock will be fine, the odds are stacked against him since it's his first go-around but I have no doubt, he's Chris Rock. Outside of Rock is where the movie will struggle.
 
What? Trying to be the next Jordan Peele? I'm not holding my breath.

We don't need any more Saw movies anyways. Not for a while at least. They ran it into the ground, and it stopped even being mildly entertaining after 3 or 4.
 
Willing to bet my left nut the movie will focus on racism.
What? Trying to be the next Jordan Peele? I'm not holding my breath.

We don't need any more Saw movies anyways. Not for a while at least. They ran it into the ground, and it stopped even being mildly entertaining after 3 or 4.

Jordan Peele is exactly who I was thinking of, going from comedy to horror and chances are it is going to be themed around racism, white people having to confront their racism or die in death traps, something like that.

I'm a little disappointed in Rock, I thought he was a little more down to Earth than that, although who knows what exactly the movie will be.

But Rock is a funny enough guy that I'm not sure if he could work in horror, but maybe horror comedy is the idea?
 
Jordan Peele is exactly who I was thinking of, going from comedy to horror and chances are it is going to be themed around racism, white people having to confront their racism or die in death traps, something like that.

I'm a little disappointed in Rock, I thought he was a little more down to Earth than that, although who knows what exactly the movie will be.

But Rock is a funny enough guy that I'm not sure if he could work in horror, but maybe horror comedy is the idea?

Hopefully not. I like Jordan Peele's movies, but that's definitely there. It's helped make his Twilight Zone reboot awful.
 
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