Next "Saw" horror movie will be in 3-D

By Elizabeth Guider

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - There's still some life in the "Saw" horror franchise, despite the disappointing performance of the latest installment.

Indie Hollywood studio Lionsgate said on Thursday it was moving ahead with "Saw 7," which will be in 3-D.

"As long as we make money on it we'll keep doing this," Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns said at the Media and Money conference in New York, noting that such franchises tend to have a long shelf life across different platforms.

"Dirty Dancing," he said, still sells 2,000 DVDs a day for the company, and that's after 20 years.

He said "Saw VI" got "buzz-sawed" at the box office by Paramount's micro-budgeted thriller "Paranormal Activity," which is set to hit the $100 million mark in North America on Friday or Saturday. "Saw VI," on the other hand has earned about $27 million after three weeks.

The franchise, a Halloween staple since 2004, peaked at $87 million with the first sequel and fell to $57 million last year.