Nicole Kidman’s much-memed AMC advert has become the subject of an unexpected new parody from horror movie franchise Saw.
In 2021, Kidman starred in an advert for the US cinema chain made to encourage punters to return to the movies after Covid-19 restrictions lifted.
The advert sees Kidman wearing a sparkly blazer as she sits alone in a cinema and speaks emphatically about the “magic” of film. “We come to this place for magic,” Kidman says. “Heartbreak feels good in a place like this.”
The advert went viral and gained a cult following, where some audience members would recite the lines in unison and Kidman’s suit even became a Halloween costume. It was also parodied on Saturday Night Live.
However, the latest AMC advert parody has come from a more unusual place. The new trailer for Saw X, the latest instalment of slasher franchise Saw, shows Billy the puppet (a symbol of serial killer Jigsaw) in the place of Kidman in a shot-by-shot recreation of the advert.
“We come to this place for a reawakening,” a sinister voiceover says, with the wheels of Billy’s bike riding over a pool of blood, in the same way as Kidman’s heel stepped over a puddle. “We come to the theatres to scream, to be, to play.”
“That indescribable feeling we get when the lights flicker on and off,” the voice continues, as the lights temporarily go out, “and your calls for mercy go unanswered, and you wake up chained in a dirty warehouse, somehow still breathing, blood-soaked blades on a huge silver screen. Fear that I can feel.
The ‘Saw X’ trailer— (Lionsgate)
“Somehow, self-amputation feels good in a place like this.”
The trailer ends with the tagline: “Traps: they make movies better.”
The Saw films follow John Kramer (Tobin Bell) – also known as Jigsaw – a serial killer who traps his victims and forces them to play “games” where they must brutally hurt themselves or others to escape.
Saw X, the latest film, is set between the action of the original 2004 Saw film and its 2005 sequel Saw II.
Kidman in the original AMC trailer— (AMC)
As well as being the subject of an SNL parody starring Chloe Fineman, Kidman’s AMC advert was mocked at this year’s Oscars.
Hosting, Jimmy Kimmel told the guests: “I am happy to see that Nicole Kidman has finally been released from that abandoned AMC where she has been held captive for almost two full years now. It’s good to have you back, Nicole.”
He added: “And thank you for encouraging people who were already at the movie theatre to go to the movie theatre.” Kidman and her husband Keith Urban gamely laughed along at the joke.
Saw X is released in cinemas on 29 September.
