Hopefully three wide releases can wake up what’s been a relatively sleepy time at the box office, ratcheted down by the SAG-AFTRA strike. With New Regency/20th Century Studios/Disney’s original Gareth Edwards sci-fi movie The Creator, Paramount and Spin Master’s PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie and Lionsgate’s Saw X, the top three movies look to make around $45M.
All three of them are vying for No. 1 with a take in the high-teen millions, but it’s likely a two-way race between PAW Patrol 2 and The Creator since both pics have had the loudest marketing campaigns and Lionsgate usually executes its smaller-budgeted movies on the cheap.
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Wait, there’s four wide releases this weekend: Sony’s Dumb Money is expanding but only is expected to do in the single digits.
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The Creator and Saw X held previews Thursday night, while PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie skipped because it’s matinee draw on the weekend while school is in session. Coming off Wednesday night premium screenings and Thursday night shows that began at 6 p.m., The Creator earned $1.6M, while Saw X saw $2M. The horror sequel saw a big turnout among Latino and Hispanic moviegoers at 41%.
That’s a slow start for The Creator considering that figure includes Wednesday shows for the $80M production completely financed by New Regency. The sci-fi pic has all the blasters of premium ticket sales in Imax, ScreenX, 4D, etc., amid an overall theater count of 3,680.
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Saw X‘s preview figure is ahead of that of the previous two Saw titles: Spiral did $750K in 2021 and Jigsaw made $1.6M in 20167. Jigsaw‘s Thursday repped 23% of its Friday total, which turned into a $16.6M opening and a $38M final domestic.
What remains is to be seen how both older-guy movies were frontloaded with fans Thursday night. The plus for PAW Patrol 2 is that it’s the first family animated movie since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem in early August, but it’s sequel that appeals to kids in diapers and preschool.
In Comscore/Screen Engine PostTrak exits, Saw X gets a 78% grade, Creator is 78%, and Dumb Money is 87%. Creator leaned more guy Thursday night than Saw X, 72% to 61%.
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Tracking had Saw X way ahead at $20M since it’s the first franchise pic with Saw in the title since 2010’s Saw 3D. The previous movie, Spiral, bottomed out to a franchise-low opening of $8.75M and a $23.2M domestic take. Lionsgate lifted the review embargo late in the game on Saw X, and it turned out that the sequel at 85% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes is the best critical rating for the franchise ever. The $13M production plays at 3,262 theaters, the widest ever for a Saw movie. Through nine movies to date, the franchise has grossed more than $1 billion worldwide and is one of the longest running horror franchises in cinema history.
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Creator‘s previews are being comped to last year’s The Woman King ($1.7M, $19.1M opening in ), 2019’s Gemini Man ($1.6M, $20.6M opening), 2016’s Arrival ($1.5M, $24.1M opening) and 2019’s Ad Astra ($1.5M, $19M opening). Critics aren’t entirely over the moon about Creator at 68% fresh next to the Brad Pitt-led 83% certified fresh Ad Astra and Amy Adams-Jeremy Renner led Arrival, which was 94% certified fresh on RT.
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