In a scary-good box office milestone, the stomach-churning “Saw” franchise has surpassed $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales.“Spiral,” the lastest entry in the horror series, earned another $4.5 million in North America and $2.67 million overseas this weekend.
That haul pushed the property to $1,000,799,533 globally across nine films.It’s a significant achievement because the “Saw” movies carry modest production budgets — ranging from $1 million to $20 million — making profit margins all the sweeter.
Even more notable, the “Saw” films aren’t particularly well received among critics or audiences.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the nine films usually generate an average around 30%, while its CinemaScore rating from moviegoers tends to range between “B” and “C” grades.
However, the horror genre tends to be review-proof at the box office.James Wan and Leigh Whannell created the “Saw” franchise, revolving around the mysterious and disturbing Jigsaw Killer, who puts his victims through deadly games to test their will to live.
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