'Saw' makes huge profits around the globe

'Saw' is scaring people throughout the world.

Australia's horror-film golden boys James Wan and Leigh Whannell will be transformed from battlers to millionaires when they pocket their share of Saw's huge worldwide box-office profits, says American co-producer Gregg Hoffman.

Saw, which cost US$1 million ($1.43 million) to shoot, has made $US67 million ($95 million) around the globe so far, most of that in the United States.

The 27-year-olds from Melbourne have been tightlipped about how much they will collect from their blood-soaked debut feature film, although Hoffman said the two would receive "a big piece".

It will make them millionaires, Hoffman said.

When Wan and Whannell were offering Saw around Hollywood studios and production companies last year they were mainly offered upfront cash payments for the rights to the film but none of the profits.

Wan, unemployed at the time, and Whannell, who poured every cent he made as a television reporter into funding a short film version of Saw, rejected the offers.

"It was the smartest thing they have ever done," Hoffman said.

Hoffman's Evolution Entertainment struck a deal that included no upfront payment but a chunk of the profits. It was a high risk for Wan and Whannell as they could have been left with nothing had the film bombed.

Hoffman said: "We told James and Leigh, 'We can pay you, or you can own your movie.'

"They said, 'Let's put all of the budget on the screen. Who cares? We're two starving kids. We've starved this long, so why not?' "

"I'm not going to give you percentages of the profits," Hoffman said, "but basically we gambled on them and they gambled on us.

"They own a portion of their movie in the same definition as me or as my partners. They own it in the exact same way ... they own a big piece of their own movie."

The small-budget Saw not only changed the two Aussie friends' lives but turned the Los Angeles-based Evolution Entertainment from a small player in Hollywood to one of the industry's hottest.

On the back of Saw, Hollywood studio Lion's Gate signed Evolution to a nine-picture deal.

Evolution, which has produced mainly dramas - the most successful being John Q, starring Denzel Washington - will now be focusing more on horror films.

All nine pictures in the Lion's Gate deal will be horror films. Another project Evolution is working on is a sequel to Saw.

Wan, who directed Saw, and Whannel, the film's screenwriter and one of the lead actors, have said they will likely only be the executive producers for the sequel because they want to move on to other projects.

The script for Saw 2 is yet to be completed but Hoffman said it would be based largely on an unrelated horror script that Evolution bought from another writer. The central character in the original Saw, a sadistic killer called Jigsaw, would be written into the script.

"Right now we're just working on the script," Hoffman said. "The boys are attached as executive producers and we'll deal with that in the next few weeks in terms of their involvement and who is going to be directing.

"We quickly realised the new script was a natural to become a sequel.

"Some characters are coming back, some aren't. It's mostly new characters, but there's a couple of people coming back.

"Obviously Jigsaw is one. Beyond that you will have to just wait and see."

On screen

*What: Saw, by Australian film-makers James Wan and Leigh Whannell

*Where and when: Hoyts, Berkeley, Village, SkyCity, opens today

- AAP