Box Office: ‘PAW Patrol’ Sequel Wins Weekend With $23 Million Debut, ‘Dumb Money’ Flops With $3.5 Million
variety.comRebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Paramount’s animated sequel “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” topped the box office in its debut, earning a solid $23 million from 3,989 North American locations over the weekend.
Those ticket sales were more than enough to rule over the three other new nationwide releases, which could be categorized as the good (Lionsgate’s gruesome “Saw X“), the meh (Disney and New Regency’s sci-fi thriller “The Creator“) and the ugly (Sony’s Game Stop stock-inspired “Dumb Money“). “Saw X” took second place with $18 million, an impressive start for the 10th entry in the long-running horror series.
It’s not the biggest debut of the bunch, which still belongs to 2006’s “Saw III” ($33 million), but it improved upon the two prior installments, 2021’s spinoff “Spiral” ($8.7 million) and 2017’s “Jigsaw” ($16.6 million).
It cost just $13 million, so it’ll be profitable for its backers by the end of its theatrical run. “The Creator,” Gareth Edwards and starring John David Washington as the leader of a war between humans and AI, landed in third place with $14 million, below expectations for the $80 million-budgeted movie.
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