“The Creator” is THE sci-fi event of the year for us. At the box office, however, the quality at the start was not quite as duly rewarded. Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie” and “The Nun 2” came out on top at the weekend.
Image-rich sci-fi action and rave reviews: “The Creator” by “Rogue One” director Gareth Edwards is an absolute must-see, and not just in our eyes. However, not all cinema-goers saw it that way. In the German cinema charts, the freshly launched “Creator” only came in third after its first weekend. With around 105,000 tickets sold (according to InsideKino), it is roughly on a par with the new release “Wochenendrebellen”.
Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie”, on the other hand, was much more popular. With 285,000 viewers in cinemas here, the new theatrical spin-off of the animated series about the eponymous animal rescue team once again underlines the brand’s status as an absolute children’s phenomenon.
“The Creator” was not only beaten by the heroic four-legged friends, but also by the horror nun Varlak, even though the latter has already been in cinemas for a week. Another 170,000 scary fans were frightened by “The Nun II” last weekend. In terms of sales, the latest chapter of the “Conjuring” franchise (due to higher ticket prices than “Paw Patrol”) even topped the German charts.
HORROR AND “PAW PATROL” ALSO WIN OVER “THE CREATOR “
IN THE USA.
Internationally, the picture is similar. In the USA, “The Creator” was able to bring in 14 million dollars at the start and thus fell short of expectations here as well. With a comparatively moderate budget of 80 million dollars, the film doesn’t have to earn quite as much at the box office as the really big blockbusters to be in the black. So it would be premature to dismiss it as a flop.
Meanwhile, the new big-screen adventure of “Paw Patrol” did better overseas with a box-office result of 23 million dollars, as did “Saw X”. The latest instalment of the popular torture-porn series, which will not be released in Germany until 30 November 2023, grossed a strong 18 million dollars and has thus already earned more than its modest production costs of 13 million dollars in the USA alone.
Worldwide, the three films have grossed 46.1 million (“Paw Patrol”), 29.3 million (“Saw X”) and 32.3 million dollars (“The Creator”). Meanwhile, “The Nun 2” stands at a current total box office of 231 million dollars and has already surpassed “Conjuring 3”. It is unlikely that it will ultimately replace its predecessor “The Nun” (worldwide box office: around 365 million dollars) as the most successful film in the “Conjuring” universe, but the demon shocker is currently the most successful horror film of 2023.
