‘Spiral’ Carves Up $8.7 Million Opening Weekend at Box Office

Lionsgate’s “Spiral” is off to a decent start at the box office, with industry estimates reporting an $8.7 million opening weekend from 2,811 screens

That result would give the “Saw” spinoff the lowest opening in the history of the gory horror franchise, falling below the previous low of $14.1 million earned in 2009 by “Saw VI,” the only film in the franchise to not gross over $100 million worldwide.

But this was to be expected as “Spiral” has opened to roughly 200 fewer theaters than “Saw VI” and is still facing a market where 34% of theaters in the U.S. and Canada are still closed. With a $20 million production budget, the film is still on pace to turn a profit. It is also on course to push the lifetime gross total for the “Saw” series” to $1 billion this week as the film also grossed $3.3 million from 16 overseas markets, bringing the total to $993 million over nine “Saw” films.

Reception for the film, as has been the case for all “Saw” films, has been tepid with a 39% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and a B- on CinemaScore. By comparison, the original “Saw” earned a C+ on CinemaScore while all of its sequels have received a grade in the B-range.

MGM/UA’s “Wrath of Man” is in second with $3.7 million grossed in its second weekend, giving it a 10-day total of $14.6 million. The film also opened to $7.1 million in China and took in $13.5 million from all international territories to give it a global total of $56 million.

More to come…

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