It's Saw X Vs. Paw Patrol Vs. The Creator In A Weird Weekend Box Office Battle
The 2023 box office kicked off in style with weekend charts dominated by the trifecta of a horror movie, a sci-fi movie, and an animated children's movie with talking animals. The first three weekends of the year saw "Avatar: The Way of Water," "M3GAN," and "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" occupying the top three spots on the box office charts (with the Tom Hanks-led "A Man Called Otto" happily trucking along just below them). It was a diverse mix of genres that existed in a strange harmony, offering something for everyone.
This weekend brings "The Creator," "Saw X," and "PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie," seeking a similarly harmonic co-existence while also being in a fairly close race for the No. 1 spot. However, it looks like family fare is the winner here, with "PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie" easily taking the top spot with an estimated $22.5 million opening (according to Variety), a number that's actually a bit higher than the initial projections. Coming in second is "Saw X," currently on track to land an estimated $18.6 million, which is at least enough to surpass the opening weekends for both "Jigsaw" ($16.5 million) and "Spiral" ($8.7 million), the respective eighth and ninth entries in the franchise. Rounding out the top three, we've got "The Creator," which will likely end up with an estimated $14 million (via Deadline), but it could make closer to $16 million (via Variety). That's a bit of a bummer for an original sci-fi movie that deserves our attention.
The other new wide release this weekend is "Dumb Money," which has had a gradual rollout this month. It started off in just eight theaters, played in 616 last weekend, and expanded to 2,837 locations this weekend. Between cast members like Seth Rogen, Nick Offerman, and Pete Davidson being unavailable to promote the movie and competition from three new releases, "Dumb Money" is down on its luck. It's looking at an estimated weekend total of just $4 million, which won't be enough to even crack the top five on the box office charts. Yikes!
What's on the box office horizon?
"Saw X" won't have much time to relax, as direct competition in the horror genre is arriving next week in the form of David Gordon Green's "The Exorcist: Believer." This wasn't the plan; Universal originally had the sequel set for the spookiest day of the year — Friday the 13th, in October no less. But then something even scarier arrived: "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour." The concert movie's theatrical release was surprise-announced by AMC Films just a few weeks ago, and Universal Pictures begrudgingly moved "Believer" up a week to avoid getting crushed by the might of T-Swizzle. "Saw X" will probably take a hit in its second weekend, while the "Exorcist" entry will have its debut dampened by the lingering presence of John Kramer.
The good news is that Sony's "Kraven the Hunter," which was set for release on October 6, has also had a release date shift — all the way to August 30, 2024. As a superhero movie about a guy with beast powers, it's loosely in the sci-fi genre and probably would have caused trouble for "The Creator." With "Kraven" out of the way, Gareth Edwards' movie has a shot at making up for a slow opening weekend with a strong second-weekend hold. Reviews for "The Creator" are mixed (67% on Rotty T's, as of this writing), but the interesting visuals could help to draw in fresh audiences on a less crowded weekend.
Next weekend's only other new theatrical releases are both from Amazon, and they're only getting a limited release before moving to Prime Video: Garth Davis's psychological sci-fi thriller "Foe," starring Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan; and Maggie Betts's legal drama "The Burial," with Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones.