Saw XI Faces Major Setbacks Amid Producer Feuds – Will It Ever Get Made?

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Saw XI appears to be struggling to survive.

The Hollywood Reporter has learned “zero progress” has been made on the next installment since writing partners Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan turned in a draft back in spring of 2024.

“We haven’t heard anything since May,” says Saw XI screenwriter Melton, who has been involved with the franchise since 2007’s Saw IV. “It’s stalled at a managerial level. It has nothing to do with the creative or anything else. There’s higher-level things at play.”

In late December 2023, Lionsgate announced that franchise mainstay Kevin Greutert was attached to direct Saw XI for a September 2024 release, but the studio ultimately delayed it by a year to Sept. 26, 2025. Greutert helmed Saw X, which revitalized the franchise when it hit theaters in September 2023 and collected $112 million at the global box office. It is unclear if he is still involved in Saw XI, and Lionsgate did not respond to a request for comment.

Melton points out that Saw X did well, and that the team has a concept that they’re proud of for the next movie. They intended to tackle a timely topic, although plot details have not yet been shared publicly. The writer likens the new project’s premise to the timeliness of 2009 release Saw VI, in which health insurance executives are targeted by John Kramer, aka Jigsaw (Tobin Bell). This topic captured renewed attention earlier this year with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

“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,” says Melton. “It taps into the same themes of Saw VI, where you’re a citizen, you feel angry and frustrated with something, you feel like you can’t do anything, and John Kramer’s going to do it.”

Regarding “Saw X,” the writer suggests that its delay is due to creative disagreements among producers and Lionsgate, as they have yet to reach a consensus.

As far as the previous films, Melton recalls that critics reacted favorably to Saw VI, but that the feature was hurt at the box office by Paranormal Activity hitting theaters a month prior. “Saw VI was the one that got cut in half because of Paranormal Activity, which was odd because it was the best-reviewed one [at the time],” he says. “It was the first one that really resonated with a lot of critics because it was about health care. The production was really easy, though, even though the Saw movies were made every year, which is hard to do.”

Mark Burg, a longtime producer on the Saw franchise that launched with director James Wan’s 2004 original, points out to THR that he oversaw not only Saw VI but also 2002’s similarly themed John Q. That Denzel Washington thriller focuses on a father who resorts to crime after he can’t pay his son’s health bills.

In ‘Saw VI’, Jigsaw targets an individual who refuses to offer insurance to him, and since I’ve faced a similar situation twice now, I can definitely relate.” (First person as a fan)

It turns out that Melton, who is currently serving as the CEO of United Healthcare, attended college with Thompson, the late CEO of the same company, at the University of Iowa. The writer mentioned that they both graduated in the same year, which was 1997. Although they knew each other, they were not particularly close friends. The writer described Thompson as a regular guy who enjoyed drinking Bud Light and was generally well-liked during their time at college.

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2025-03-18 03:09