'Saw VI' Given X Rating in Spain

Source: THR

In a first for Spain, the nation has given a dreaded X rating, which is typically reserved for pornography, to a movie solely on the basis of "extreme violence"—and the award goes to the upcoming Saw VI. That means what would have been a wide release in Spain will instead be confined only to pornography theaters, and what normally would have normally pulled in an easy $6 million in Spain (as Saw s VI and V did), will more or less have a death sentence pronounced over it.

How this will affect the normally very profitable franchise? Buenavista only gave Spain 300 copies of Saw VI in the first place and, while that's a large release for the country, the franchise is still popular enough in the U.S. and elsewhere that it should still be a huge, huge blockbuster. Although the success of the Saw films have been steadily declining at the box office since Saw III 's incredible $163 million worldwide intake in 2006, Saw V 's $111 million last year is hardly something to shake a boobytrapped stick at.

And besides, for the millions of Saw (read: gore) fans in the rest of the world, this controversy is also easily the best press Saw VI has gotten. The film is being released stateside today.