LOS ANGELES, May 16 (Xinhua) -- American horror film "Spiral: From the Book of Saw," the ninth and latest one of the Saw series, led ticket sales at the North American box office this weekend with a disappointing figure.

According to studio figures collected by measurement firm Comscore, this Lionsgate's R-rated film grossed 8.7 million U.S. dollars from 2,811 theaters in North America after its debuts this weekend. This result was under the 10 million to 15 million U.S. dollars that many hoped for.

Even though the film, starring Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, was the 6th No. 1 opening for a Saw movie, it was the lowest-ever debut for a Saw installment by a long shot, with the previous low being Saw VI's 14.12 million U.S. dollars in October 2009.

The sequel's debut is the largest for a horror film since last year's The Invisible Man, which opened to 28.21 million U.S. dollars in February 2020 just a month or so before the pandemic shuttered theaters. Only four films this year managed to open to more than 10 million U.S. dollars.

"If the Saw series has anything in common with Raya and the Last Dragon it may be the disappointment in not being able to join that exclusive club in 2021." Rotten Tomatoes, an American review-aggregation website for film and television made these comments Sunday.

Disney's "Raya and the Last Dragon," standing at the 5th place of the box office list and earning 1.718 million U.S. dollars in 2,285 theaters this weekend, generated totally 46.1 million U.S. dollars after 11 weeks on the big screen.

However, "Raya and the Last Dragon" officially surpassed "Tom & Jerry" so far to become the second-highest grossing film of 2021 and the fifth-highest during the COVID-19 pandemic era.

"Instead, the latest Saw film, Spiral, looks to become another footnote suggesting that even brand names are not bringing back people to theaters. Yet." Rotten Tomatoes's story read.

This idea was shared by Warner Bros.' "Those Who Wish Me Dead." The new Angelina Jolie thriller, currently streaming on HBO Max, took the third place this weekend. Unfortunately, Jolie's star power couldn't overcome a tepid theatrical marketing campaign, leading to a quiet 2.8 million U.S. dollars debut from a very wide 3,188 locations.

The Deadline, a leading entertainment news website, explained that as movie theaters attempted to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, family films and CGI spectacles had been popular options to see on the big screen, gritty dramas geared toward adult audiences like Jolie's new movie could not perform very well.

Last weekend's top earner, United Artists' "Wrath of Man," fell 55 percent to an estimated 3.74 million U.S. dollars in second place this weekend, bringing the total for the Guy Ritchie-Jason Statham action film to 14.6 million U.S. dollars after ten days of release.

As of Sunday, the Deadline said, "Wrath of Man" had grossed 41.4 million U.S. dollars in total outside of North American market. It opened in Chinese theaters last Monday and made 7.1 million U.S. dollars in its first three days of release, as well as another 8.7 million U.S. dollars over the weekend, bringing its tally in China to 18.5 million U.S. dollars. Enditem

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