10 Movies That Weren't Meant To Be Sequels

After Saw made its budget back a hundredfold, a sequel was greenlit almost immediately. Unfortunately, filmmakers James Wan and Leigh Whannel were busy on another project, causing the producers to scramble for a replacement.

By a complete coincidence, a music video director called Darren Lynn Bousman was shopping his screenplay around studios at the time but kept being rejected since it was almost identical to Saw. 

Saw producer Greg Hoffman read the script - which was known as The Desperate - and thought it could be amended into a Saw sequel. Bousman was reportedly upset that his work was considered a rip-off, but changed his tune when he was asked to helm the project.

Although Whannel and Wan had to throw some Saw elements into the story, the bulk of Bousman's work remained untouched. Not only did The Desperate have a similar "bleak, disgusting atmosphere and a twist ending," but many of the characters, traps, and deaths stayed the same, including the incinerator scene and the needle pit sequence.

Turning The Desperate into a different property altogether was risky but it paid off, since Saw II became one of the most profitable entries in the series, proving the first film wasn't a one-trick pony.