The global kids’ animation sensation PAW Patrol has powered to the top of the domestic weekend box-office with the debut of PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie — the second feature film in the preschool franchise created by hitmaker Keith Chapman. The pic pulled an estimated $23 million from a bit fewer than 4,000 theaters, with Paramount Pictures (distributor with Nickelodeon Movies; a Spin Master Entertainment production) estimating another $23M take internationally from 45 markets (53% of international footprint for the release) — totaling ~$46.1M worldwide.
According to Paramount, The Mighty Movie proved true to its title. The film strongly over-indexed in the northeast and Midwest portions of the U.S., over-indexed in the south-central and southeast, while slightly under-indexing in the western U.S. Canada came in with a very good market share of 8.2% (8.7% overall).
Major markets that over-indexed include New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleveland and St. Louis, while the major markets that under-indexed included Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Phoenix, Seattle, Orlando, Denver and San Diego. Top theaters came from L.A., N.Y., San Antonio, Boston, Toronto, Cleveland, Nashville, Phoenix, West Palm Beach (Florida), Odessa (Texas), Austin, Miami and Montreal.
Audience Demos:
- 90% family
- 52% female/48% male
- <7 14%, 7-9 27%, 10-12 5%, 13-17 8%, 18-34 24%, 35+ 22%
- 46% Cauc/30% Hisp/16% AA/5% Asian/3% NatAm other
- 60% Excellent/27% Very Good = 87% – Total Positive for parents, 75% definite recommend
- 61% Great/32% Very Good = 93% – Total Positive for kids, 66% Must see it right away
- 4.5/5 stars on PostTrak for parents, 5/5 stars for kids
- ‘A’ CinemaScore, 54% of kids said it exceeded their expectations.
The screening was held in partnership with Los Angeles nonprofit Best Friends Animal Society, which campaigns for humans to adopt their pets and is working toward making the U.S. a no-kill nation for shelter animals by 2025.
PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie beat out three new live-action releases for the top domestic B.O. spot: Lionsgate’s horror offering Saw X came in at No. 2 ($18M), followed by Gareth Edwards’ AI-battling action-adventure The Creator (Disney’s 20th Century; $14M) and the Duck Dynasty biopic The Blind (Tread Lively; $4.1M) came in at No. 5. Warner Bros. horror sequel The Nun II caught the No. 4 spot ($4.7M) in its fourth week of release.
Barbie hung on to the tail of the Top 10 ($1.4M) after 11 weeks (Oppenheimer dropped to 16th). PAW Patrol‘s main animation competition remains Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Paramount), which dropped from 11th to 13th place in its ninth frame, adding $800,000 to a $117.5M domestic total ($176.7M WW).
Directed by Cal Brunker from a screenplay by Cal Brunker & Bob Barlen, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie takes off when a magical meteor from space lands and charges up the canine crusaders with superpowers — and Skye, the smallest member of the team, has a chance to prove herself a real hero. Their powers are put to the test when the PAW Patrol’s archrival, Humdinger, breaks out of jail and teams up with a mad scientist named Victoria Vance to steal the superpowers and become supervillains.
The voice cast features Mckenna Grace, Taraji P. Henson, Marsai Martin, Christian Convery, Ron Pardo, Lil Rel Howery, Kim Kardashian, Chris Rock, Serena Williams, Alan Kim, Brice Gonzalez, North West, Saint West, Christian Corrao, Luxton Handspiker, Nylan Parthipan, Callum Shoniker, with James Marsden and Kristen Bell, introducing Finn Lee-Epp.
The film’s producers are Jennifer Dodge, p.g.a., Laura Clunie, p.g.a., Toni Stevens, p.g.a.; executive producers are Ronnen Harary, Adam Beder, Peter Schlessel.
[Sources: Paramount Pictures, BoxOfficeMojo]
