Topline
PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie took the first spot at the U.S. box office this weekend—bringing in nearly double what its prequel did in its debut weekend—and Saw X took the second spot, doing better than recent Saw franchise movies but still charting toward the bottom of debut weekends for the films, according to multiple reports.
The Paw Patrol mascots attend a special screening of “Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie” at Paramount … [+]
Key Facts
PAW Patrol: The MIghty Movie brought in an estimated $23 million during its first weekend in North American theaters, Variety reported, making almost double the $13 million its 2021 predecessor—titled PAW Patrol: The Movie—brought in on its opening weekend, though it also debuted on Paramount+ at the time.
Saw X brought in about $18 million, according to Deadline, which also reported the new film in the franchise was below the horror series’ average opening weekend of $23 million—though it did do better than the debuts of the franchise’s 2021 and 2017 installments, according to data from Box Office Mojo.
The Creator, a Gareth Edwards film about a war between humans and artificial intelligence, took the third spot at the box office, Variety reported, bringing in $14 million.
In fourth place was The Nun 2, another horror flick that brought in just $4.6 million in its fourth weekend, according to Variety, after holding the No. 1 box office spot for its first three weekends in theaters.
Surprising Fact
Saw III had the biggest debut weekend of the franchise’s now-10 films, bringing in $33.6 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Saw X is on track to have the fourth-lowest opening weekend, following Spiral (the ninth installment that brought in $8.7 million), Saw VI (which brought in $14 million) and Jigsaw (the eighth installment that brought in $16.6 million). The 10th installment is on track to open just behind the original Saw, which brought in $18.2 million with its 2004 debut.
Tangent
Though Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie opened much stronger than PAW Patrol: The Movie, the two films—which are based on the animated kids’ TV show PAW Patrol—are looking almost identical in terms of audience and critics’ ratings. On Rotten Tomatoes, the original film drew a critics score of 80% and an audience score of 97%, and the sequel—as of Sunday afternoon—has a critics score of 81% and an audience score of 94%.
Big Number
$231 million. That’s how much The Nun 2 has grossed globally—$76.7 million of which has been domestic—despite its slower fourth weekend. It’s trailing behind 2018’s The Nun, which brought in $117 million in North America and $366 million globally, according to Box Office Mojo data.