'Saw' film producer Hoffman dies at age 42

LOS ANGELES - Film producer Gregg Hoffman, who with his partners turned a US$1 million ($1.41 million) horror movie called "Saw" into a US$102 million hit, has died at the age of 42.

Lions Gate Entertainment, which distributed "Saw" and its successor "Saw II," said Hoffman died on Sunday in a Hollywood hospital of natural causes but gave no specifics. An autopsy is planned.

"Saw," financed by Hoffman and his partners at Twisted Pictures, cost about US$1 million to make but reaped US$102 million worldwide at the box office when it was released in October 2004. The sequel "Saw II" brought in even more earlier this year, and a third movie in the series was in production.

"Saw" is the grisly story of a serial killer called Jigsaw who devises intricate situations to get his victims to kill each other.

Hoffman and his partners independently financed their films which allowed them to reap the profits, a fact that led Hoffman to tell the Los Angeles Times that he had hit the jackpot.

Hoffman "had the uncanny ability to pursue creative and professional endeavors in a collaborative and inspiring fashion, traits all too rare in our industry," said Peter Block, president of production at Lions Gate.

- REUTERS