SAW V and VI shooting back-to-back?

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

Now Lionsgate are getting really ambitious. Just the other day we spoke of how the upcoming writer's strike was forcing them to push through their script for Saw V at lightning speed as that November 1st deadline approaches. If you thought that short window of time might have watered down the quality of the next film then what about this news... Bloody Disgusting have learned "for a fact" that Saw V will be shot back-to-back with Saw VI, using the same crew (including rookie director David Hackl and the writers Marcus Dunston and Patrick Melton) and possibly skipping the annual October release date. So this duo of writers now have a matter of weeks to write the script for the next two Saw installments!

Why would Lionsgate do this? Well it would seem that shooting back-to-back would be extremely cost-effective and (this is me talking now) Lionsgate could be worried about not just the quality of this month's Saw IV but the quality of the upcoming movies with a rookie helmer directing. Maybe they think Saw IV won't make the money they are hoping, so if they can shoot two movies quickly and for cheap then the expected box office drop won't effect them too much. Either way, it's worrying for the future of Saw that they are pushing so quickly with the next two movies and I can't help but feel that changing the October release date will do damage to the annual Halloween hype this series gets. We await confirmation.