WILL 3D BREATHE LIFE INTO SAW FRANCHISE?

3D technology will undergo another commercial test this weekend when Lionsgate’s Saw VII wages a Halloween box office battle against the second weekend of Paramount’s Paranormal Activity 2 — a purposefully low-tech, 2D affair. Several box-office analysts have observed that last year’s Saw VI left the franchise as bloodied and struggling for life as some of the characters in the film. It took in just $14.1 million in its debut and went on to earn an anemic $27.9 million during its entire domestic run. The question now seems to be whether audiences will flock to theaters in the hope that 3D will make Saw VII‘s violence appear even more gorey and gruesome. Lionsgate may also be harboring the worry that a plethora of horror flicks this fall has already saturated the market — and that most have been box-office disappointments, including the recent Let Me In, which not only received strong exit-poll approval but — a surprise for a horror film — largely positive reviews. Since opening on Oct. 4 with $5.1 million, it has so far earned a total of only $11.6 million.