'Paw Patrol' and 'Saw X' Battle It Out at the Box Office

Half of the week's new theatrical movies are sequels or franchise installments, and half are original stories. It's likely the sequels will come out on top, with family movie PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie going up against horror sequel Saw X. However, don't count out the original sci-fi movie The Creator. It could be a spoiler at the top of the charts. On the other hand, you can probably count out "Dumb Money," a finance movie about meme stocks starring Seth Rogen and Pete Davidson. Read on for details.

Via Variety.

Move over, Barbenheimer, it’s time for Saw Patrol.

This weekend sees the releases of four major movies, including Paramount’s family friendly “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie,” Lionsgate’s gory, R-rated “Saw X,” 20th Century’s sci-fi epic “The Creator” and Sony’s GameStop stock story “Dumb Money.”

“PAW Patrol” is expected to come out on top with an estimated $18 million to $20 million opening, but “Saw X” will be right on its tail with an estimated $15 million to $18 million. However, some projections go as high as $20 million to $25 million, overtaking the “PAW Patrol” pups.

So far, “Saw X” has made $2 million in Thursday previews at the box office, and “The Creator” made $1.6 million.

Based on the popular kids TV series, “PAW Patrol” follows a team of search and rescue dogs who save the town of Adventure City. The voice cast includes McKenna Grace, Taraji P. Henson, Marsai Martin, Kim Kardashian, Chris Rock and James Marsden. The first movie opened in 2021 with $13 million, while simultaneously releasing on Paramount+ due to the pandemic. With a $30 million budget, the sequel aims to outperform the original.

“Saw X” is also poised to improve over the previous franchise entries. Star Tobin Bell, who plays the serial killer Jigsaw, is back for the 10th movie, which takes place chronologically between the original “Saw” and “Saw II.” With a $13 million budget, “Saw X” should succeed over 2021’s “Spiral” ($8.7 million opening) and possibly 2017’s “Jigsaw” ($16.6 million).

“The Creator,” starring John David Washington in an AI-controlled, sci-fi drama by director Gareth Edwards,” is on track for $16 million to $19 million. It will likely settle for third place this weekend, while “Dumb Money,” which tells the Wall Street-Reddit battle over GameStop stock in 2021 with Seth Rogen, Paul Dano, Pete Davidson and America Ferrera, is expected to make $5 million to $8 million in its wide release.

Get the rest of the story at Variety.