Saw XI won’t be arriving in 2025, and there are doubts over the entire future of the movie (and franchise). More right here.
Turns out that if you want to finally defeat Jigsaw once and for all, you don’t need a deadly weapon, you just need a boardroom. After the success of the well-received Saw X, Lionsgate was quickly moving towards Saw XI. It was announced at speed, and the assumption was that it’d be turned around in a year, two at most.
However, screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan wrote a draft of the screenplay that was sent in to the studio around this time last year. As Melton now tells The Hollywood Reporter, he’s heard nothing from the studio about Saw XI since May of last year. “It’s stalled at a managerial level. It has nothing to do with the creative or anything else. There’s higher-level things at play,” he told the outlet.
The release date was originally announced by Lionsgate as September 2024, before being delayed to September 2025. However, not a frame of footage has been shot, and it’s not even clear if Kevin Greutert is returning to direct the new film.
Read more: Saw X review | Jigsaw returns in glorious form
Patrick Melton talks about “inter-squabbling between producers and Lionsgate”, and it’s meant that the film has stalled. One or two reports have suggested the franchise itself is dead, but that’s by no means confirmed as of the time of writing. What does seem to be clear is the current iteration of Saw XI is on life support, and that – unless there’s a minor miracle here – the chances of it being shot, ready and marketed in six months from now are zero.
Lionsgate hasn’t commented on any of this, but there is an element of inaction speaking louder than words.
The Hollywood Reporter piece is here, and quite what the squabbling behind the scenes comes down to remains to be seen. More news as we hear it, but a mildly depressing story, this one. Think I preferred the old ‘creative differences’ to this.
Read more: Saw X and the unsubtle art of the splatter movie barf bag
