Lions Gate Filmshas acquired worldwide rights to James Wan's horror thriller Saw fromEvolution Management and will premiere the film in the Midnight Lineup sectionat Sundance.

Release is planned sometime this year and the film centreson a serial killer's cat-and-mouse game with two captives. It stars Cary Elwes,Danny Glover, Monica Potter and newcomer Leigh Whannell.

President of Lions Gate Home Entertainment, acquisitions and newmedia Peter Block, vice president of acquisitions Jason Constantine and vicepresident of legal affairs Wendy Jaffe negotiated the deal for Lions Gate.

Mark Burg, Evolution's Oren Koules and Gregg Hoffman acted forEvolution Management.

"I am a huge fan of the locked-in-a-room thriller, and Saw deliversand more," Block said in a statement. "James Wan has crafted a cool and uniqueconcept and Evolution Management has a keen eye for the kind of new talent withwhom we are thrilled to be working."

"This movie is the perfect fit for Lions Gate and EvolutionManagement," added Koules. "Lions Gate is the most daring and ingeniousdistributor of genre material in the business."

Saw is based on a screenplay by Whannell and wasproduced by Hoffman, Koules and Burg and executive produced by Stacey Testro.