The Saw games are set to begin once again, this time coming from the most unexpected person possible.
Lionsgate has announced that Chris Rock is working on a reimagining of Saw, Variety reports. Yes, as in Chris Rock the comedian.
Rock said he's a huge fan of the horror series, which launched in 2004 and has consisted of eight films that have collectively grossed almost $1 billion at the global box office. "I am excited by the opportunity to take this to a really intense and twisted new place," he said.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Although the most recent Saw entry, 2017's Jigsaw, revitalized the series after a seven year break, it sounds like Rock's film will not directly follow that up. Instead, Lionsgate said his vision, which he apparently described to them in "chilling" detail, "reimagines and spins off the world of the notorious Jigsaw Killer," although it will be "completely reverential to the legacy of the material."
Rock is certainly an unexpected choice, although plenty of comedians have made the jump to horror in recent years. Danny McBride and David Gordon Green in 2018 collaborated on a successful reboot of Halloween after being previously known for comedy, and Jordan Peele moved from the Comedy Central sketch series Key & Peele into being one of the most respected horror directors working today with Get Out and Us.
The new Saw is set to be produced by Rock and based on his original idea, although the screenplay will be written by Pete Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg, and it will be directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, who previously directed the second, third, and fourth Saw films. It's set to release in October 2020.
-
August 23 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday's political cartoons include deficit dimness, steamroller-in-chief, and more
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purgeCartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
