After hitting theaters on May 14, Spiral: From The Book of Saw is getting a digital release in early June. The film is the ninth in the Saw franchise and comes after four years without a new Saw film following 2017's Jigsaw which got mixed reviews and created several plot holes for the already complicated franchise. Spiral stars Chris Rock in an unexpected casting choice as a cop trying to hunt down and stop a Jigsaw copy cat killer. The film acts as an offshoot of the original franchise while still existing within the same world and helping to set up Saw X.
Spiral was praised for helping to take the franchise in a new direction and did very well in the box office upon its theatrical release. With nine films, the franchise has finally hit the $1 billion benchmark for the box office worldwide. The horror series was already close to that mark, and the $4.7 million that Spiral grossed on opening weekend was enough to finally send it over the edge. Spiral has now grossed over $20 million worldwide. Furthermore, Spiral is getting overall favorable reviews from fans with a 75% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Even with the film doing relatively well in theaters, the studio has recently announced that Spiral will be released digitally to rent at home on June 1. This means that Spiral will have run in theaters for only about half a month before its digital release. Originally, fans expected the film to run in theaters through July before an August digital release. That being said, Spiral will still be showing in theaters after the digital release.
Though Lionsgate has not given an official reason for such an early digital release, Spiral seems to be following the lead of other films released throughout the pandemic. With many fans still wary of going to the theater, it makes sense to provide an option to watch the film from the safety of home. As things are starting to move closer to normal, Spiral serves as one of the films that helped kick off the soft opening of the summer movie season, but it seems it didn't do well enough in theaters for the producers to keep to the pre-Covid schedule of digital releases.
Whether fans venture out to theaters or wait just a few more days for the digital release, they can expect the high level of gore that the franchise always promises as well as the twists and turns that fans love from the other Saw movies. Though the film works as an offshoot of the original story of the Jigsaw killer(s), it also opens up the world for Saw X. Little is known about the 10th installment of the franchise, Director Darren Bousman has talked about the possibility of an MCU-style world after Spiral. For now though, fans will have to sit tight and enjoy Spiral.
Next: How Spiral Sets Up A Sequel And Saw 10
Source: Lionsgate