Blumhouse Buys Rights to 'Saw' Franchise
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Blumhouse already boasts its share of horror franchises like "Insidious" and "Five Nights at Freddy's", and now it will be adding "Saw" to its arsenal of scares. The company has acquired rights to all future "Saw" films, according to Variety.
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We don't know much Blumhouse paid for the rights, but we know they acquired them from producers Oren Koules and Mark Burg. Lionsgate will continue to have a 50% stake in the franchise.
Still from "Saw".
Still from "Saw".
Lionsgate
Fans may be enthused to hear the news, considering it means Blumhouse and Lionsgate have the motivation to release more installments. News broke in March that "Saw XI" had been removed from Lionsgate's list of upcoming releases, to be replaced with "The Strangers: Chapter 2".
There was no word on exactly why "Saw XI" was canceled, but co-writer Patrick Melton told The Hollywood Reporter that if the film wasn't made, it would have nothing to do with the creative side of things.
"Saw XI may or may not be made, but we have a very timely story in it, and I hope it gets made just because of that," Melton said. He put the blame for the delays at the "managerial level."
Blumhouse's acquisition of the "Saw" franchise could be seen to represent a homecoming of sorts. It brings the franchise back to James Wan who directed the first entry in the series. James Wan's Atomic Monster merged with Blumhouse in 2024.
Blumhouse CEO James Blum said Wan and "Saw" writer Leigh Whannell will be "brought back in the fold" and guiding future installments.
'Saw' holds a special place in my heart," Wan told Variety. "Coming back to this world with a fresh perspective is both thrilling and deeply personal."
"For me, this will mark a significant creative return to the 'Saw' franchise for the first time since the early days, and I'm very much looking forward to embracing the original spirit whilst pushing the legacy forward in bold, unexpected ways."
If past success proves to be an indicator of the franchise's future, financially, Blumhouse is likely in for a windfall. All told, the ten "Saw" films have taken in over $1 billion at the global box office.
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USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Gal Gadot says 'pressure' to speak out against Israel hurt 'Snow White' at box office
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Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
The 10 Best Horror Movies of 2025 So Far, Ranked
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Those indelible images of Cillian Murphy wandering around an abandoned London have been replaced by a small island village off the coast of Great Britain, where a young father (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is dealing with his precocious son (Alfie Williams) and ailing wife (Jodie Comer). When father and son embark on a mission to the mainland, the movie mutates, first into something resembling a folk horror tale and then into something sweeter and more unexpected, as the son brings his mother to the mainland in search of a doctor (Ralph Fiennes). Taking inspiration from Ken Loach's 1969 coming-of-age film 'Kes' and embroidered by a one-of-a-kind score by Scottish hip hop act Young Fathers, '28 Years Later' has a sensation all its own – if you don't sob through the first act, you might be a heartless zombie. At least the sequel, written by Garland and directed by Nia DaCosta, is just around the corner, arriving in theaters in January 2026. 2. 'Weapons' Zach Cregger's follow-up to 'Barbarian' is an ambitious epic, mixing tones and styles with gleeful abandon. Part of the fun of 'Weapons' is in the way that it slowly reveals its sinister secrets, so we will be brief and opaque when it comes to our description of the movie. But we can say this – in the town of Maybrook, Pennsylvania, a group of kids get up at 2:17 a.m. and leave their homes. Julia Garner plays the teacher of the class of kids, Josh Brolin is one of the fathers and Alden Ehrenreich is the local cop investigating the disappearances, with a bulk of the story taking place a month after the kids went missing. And that's really all you need to know! The way that the narrative unfolds, following various characters as they go through this experience, and the way that Cregger mixes dread and comedy, is absolutely galvanizing. And the movie's thematic undercurrents, about how a community processes grief and explains away violence, makes everything that much more powerful. It's a must-see and one of the year's very best movies. 1. 'Sinners' Leave it to Ryan Coogler, who had amassed an unlimited reservoir of goodwill following his 'Creed' and 'Black Panther' movies, and who decided to utilize that goodwill on a hugely expensive, beautifully photographed passion project – a musical vampire movie, stuffed with symbolism and historic context, that is also one of the most fitfully entertaining movies of the past few years. In 'Sinners' Michael B. Jordan plays the Smokestack Twins, bootlegging brothers who rode with Al Capone for a time but who have returned, in the early 1930s, to their backwater Mississippi town. Their plan is to open a rowdy juke joint. This is an entrepreneurial act, for sure, but also looks to enrich their community by giving the folks working the plantations and the cotton fields somewhere to go after work and be free. Of course that freedom is threatened when a vampire (Jack O'Connell) shows up and looks to turn the revelers into blood-sucking children of the night. 'Sinners' is piled high with themes and ideas, with Coogler exploring everything from the importance of Black business ownership to the (literally) transcendent power of the blues, to vampirism as a cultural force as much as it is a supernatural one. And the fact that all of this stuff doesn't clash with one another, instead building beautifully to something melancholic and unforgettable, is one of the many magic tricks of 'Sinners.' Coogler made a stone-cold masterpiece that defies easy categorization and demands further excavation. Complete with one of the great scores of the year (by Coogler's frequent collaborator Ludwig Göransson), this is one for the ages. The post The 10 Best Horror Movies of 2025 So Far, Ranked appeared first on TheWrap.
Los Angeles Times
12 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Dan Tana, founder of eponymous L.A. restaurant known for celebrity clientele, dead at 90
Dan Tana, the restaurateur whose eponymous Santa Monica Boulevard eatery has for decades been a Hollywood hotspot — one with dishes named for celebrities who are liable to be there on any given night — died in Belgrade, Serbia, on Saturday. He was 90. Tana, born Dobrivoje Tanasijević, was a professional soccer player before opening the clubby red-sauce Italian restaurant in 1964, running it until he sold it in 2009. By then, its reputation as a favorite of A-listers had been cemented by the regular presence of devotees including Elizabeth Taylor and Kirk Douglas. The details of Tana's death were confirmed by L.A. historian Alison Martino, a friend of the restaurant's current owner, Sonja Perencevic, who purchased it from its founder. Martino, who runs the eatery's Facebook page — where a message posted Saturday announced Tana's death — said that Perencevic was close with the former proprietor and had been with him in Belgrade on Friday. Martino said she did not know the cause of death. 'Dan lived a wonderful life, and we will keep Dan Tana's in his memory forever,' Perencevic said in a statement relayed by Martino, who was at the restaurant on Saturday night. Born near Belgrade, Tana played professional soccer in Canada before immigrating to the United States, where he studied acting. He debuted in the 1957 war film 'The Enemy Below,' according to Variety. While seeking acting jobs, the trade publication reported, Tana started as a dishwasher at the Villa Capri restaurant in Hollywood, before eventually becoming the maitre d' at La Scala in Beverly Hills. That lined him up for a career in food. Before long, he was opening Dan Tana's near the eastern edge of Beverly Hills. He told the Hollywood Reporter in 2014 that he'd wanted to create an establishment where stars could dine late into the night. 'There was not a decent restaurant serving until 1 a.m. You had to go to a coffee shop,' he told the Reporter. But Dan Tana's was not an immediate hit. It eventually gained a following after actor Richard Burton, a seven-time Academy Award nominee who married Taylor the year the restaurant opened, became a regular presence. It received a jolt in the 1970s, when the Troubadour, a neighboring music venue, began booking big acts such as Elton John, drawing large crowds to the area. The restaurant, with its red-and-white-checkered tablecloths, and green neon sign, soon became a local institution. It has long been known for the discreet way it caters to the movie stars and moguls who slide across its channeled red booths. George Clooney, former Lakers owner Jerry Buss and heiress Nicky Hilton are among the eclectic bunch of notables with menu items named for them, and the routine presence of celebrities has only burnished the eatery's aura — especially among tourists hoping for a table. But guests aren't necessarily coming for four-star food. The menu eschews the sort of regional Italian cooking that has for years been a staple of the Los Angeles dining scene. Instead, Dan Tana's offers comfort-food fare such as fettuccine Alfredo and chicken Parmesan. In 2016, Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold penned a memorable review of Dan Tana's, relating the time he took a high school crush there on a date, only to embarrass himself: 'The waiter laughed when I tried to order wine, and then served us Sprite in wine glasses. The bill came to $20 more than I had in my wallet. She groaned and pulled out the credit card her parents had given her for emergencies.' As for the food, Gold called some of it 'ordinary,' but noted, 'Weirdly enough, I don't care,' noting the restaurant's place in L.A.'s culinary firmament. He went on to highlight dishes including the chicken parm, and instructed readers, 'Dan Tana's is not about denying yourself things.' In the years since Tana sold his restaurant and retired to Belgrade, several landmark L.A. haunts have shuttered, Greenblatt's Deli, the Original Pantry Cafe and Papa Cristo's Greek Grill & Market among them. Dan Tana's has endured, Martino said, in part because it can still deliver a charming, old-world experience. 'When ... you walk in, the world stops,' she said. 'That's what I love about it — the history and the food. The staff has been the same: you could leave L.A., come back after five years and come in and they will remember your favorite drink.' Martino sent The Times a video of an impromptu toast made in Tana's honor at the restaurant on Saturday night. Flanked by tuxedoed servers and the maître d', Martino announced the founder's death, mostly silencing the crowded dining room. 'We do not need to be sad,' Martino said. 'Mr. Tana would want us to be happy.' Guests raised their glasses. And the din of a busy restaurant soon returned.
