Box Office Update: Saw and The Creator no match for the puppies of Paw Patrol

The animated puppies of Paw Patrol take first while Saw X covers its budget and The Creator gets off to a slow start

Numbers have begun rolling in and it appears they are falling relatively in line with where we saw them on Thursday. As of right now, Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie is eyeing a first place finish with what is expected to be in the $22 million range as pre-sale numbers mixed with expected matinee walk up business look to be very strong for this animated sequel. I actually went to the movies last night (to see The Equalizer 3 for a second time with some friends who hadn’t yet seen it) and our movie got out around 11pm, as we were standing around outside the theater we noticed a huge crowd of excited kids and parents leaving the theater. You could tell the kids had a blast with the movie they just saw. It is possible they just got out from seeing Saw X, but smart money is on Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie. 

Speaking of Saw X, that movie is looking to take second place with what is looking like a $17-$18 million weekend. Horror films, especially tenth films in a franchise, tend to be front loaded as the fans get out to see the movie as soon as possible, so it is possible that number could dip. There have been many people who had given up on the franchise over the years, but seeing that Saw X has the best reviews of the entire series, could get some of those people intrigued enough to check out this newest entry. The good news is that the film carries a low $13 million budget, so this opening number really is quite solid. 

As a fan of the series, I can say that I found Saw X to be up there with parts one and two in terms of the story. Nothing will ever top the shock of the ending of the first movie and how masterful that was when the now iconic score by Charlie Clouser kicks in, but this newest installment gave Tobin Bell his biggest platform yet as the driving force of the franchise and he absolutely nailed it. I hope some of the horror specific awards recognize his performance here, I’d even go as far as to say his performance deserves some mainstream awards recognition, but that won’t happen, so hopefully the horror specific ones recognize his flawless performance. You can check out Tyler Nichols 7/10 review here.

Coming in third place is The Creator with what is looking like a $15-$16 million weekend. Why is that number a disaster for this original Science Fiction tale? Because the film cost a reported $80 million before marketing. Early reviews for the film pegged it as a new sci-fi classic, a sentiment echoed by our own Chris Bumbray in his 8/10 review for the film, however as more reviews poured in, the praise has died down a bit with many agreeing the film is a visually stunning piece of work, but the overall movie just seems to lack a bit of bite. That is where I fall on this film. The trailer looked decent, the early reviews got me excited, and then when I was in the theater watching the movie, I was just very disinterested in what I was seeing. The movie just didn’t hold my attention and I found my brain thinking about a million different things instead of what I was seeing on the screen. It seems general audiences are having that same feeling towards this one as it currently has a 75% audience score, which isn’t horrible, just isn’t that great either. 

The top five will be rounded out by the spooky one two punch of The Nun II with an additional $5 million as the film continues its slow crawl to $100 million domestic, followed by A Haunting in Venice with another $4 million added to its underwhelming $30 million domestic take. 

Our big miss for the week comes by way of the excellent based on a true story stock market film Dumb Money which saw some solid numbers in limited release but doesn’t appear to be crossing over into mainstream appeal with a weekend reported to be just around $3 million. This movie was never going to be a big box office draw, but it is such a great film that I hope it eventually finds an audience.

What do you make of the opening weekend numbers of the three new releases? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to check back tomorrow when we have a full rundown of this weekend’s box office numbers.