The Creator came out in theaters over the weekend. The film promised to be a Box Office hit. But let's take a look at its numbers. Was The Creator a Box Office hit or a flop?
Early predictions of the film's success revealed that it had the makings of the next big franchise. After all, it had a pretty big budget for a sci-fi movie. But did its opening weekend meet expectations?
Here's what we know about the film's numbers.
How Well Did The Creator Do With Critics?
The Creator earned positive feedback from critics. According to Metacritic, the film had a generally favorable score of 63 from the 52 critic reviews it received. Meanwhile, user ratings reflected a similar output with a 6.3 score.
The Creator came out in theaters on September 29, 2023. Variety noted that the film landed in third place since its opening weekend. It landed behind PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie and Saw X.
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Was The Creator a Box Office Hit or Flop?
Despite the number of positive reviews the film received, The Creator did poorly during its opening weekend in domestic markets.
The film had an $80 million budget. Over its opening weekend, the film only earned $14 million, a number that's nowhere near half of its budget.
The good news is that internationally, The Creator performed better. It earned more than $30 million overseas. Together, the film earned around $44 million during its opening weekend.
This is a figure that isn't too far off BoxOfficePro's projection. The publication projected that the film would open with $15 to $24 million domestically. It also predicted that The Creator would earn around $40 to $85 million during its opening weekend.
With its budget, the film is expected to earn $250 to $300 million to be a Box Office hit. But then again, this is only the opening weekend. There's still plenty of potential for the movie to earn, especially when it comes to streaming platforms.
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Possible Reasons Behind Its Poor Performance
When it comes to big-budget sci-fi films, it's really important to have an established director behind it. Even though Gareth Edwards has proven himself in this genre, he cannot compete with Christopher Nolan or James Cameron.
It's also important to note that The Creator is an original story. It's not as popular as the previous movies that Edwards directed, like Godzilla or Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Plus, it's important to note that cast members were not permitted to promote the film (in line with the ongoing Writer's Strike in Hollywood). This means that there wasn't as much hype to promote the film.
Since The Creator was virtually an unknown project compared to Saw X and PAW Patrol, it wasn't able to build up hype. Hopefully, there will still be time for the cast of the film to promote the movie, given the WGA strike has officially ended. If the SAG-AFTRA strike follows, the cast will still have time to promote the film and drive people to the theaters.
Thankfully, the early reactions of those who've seen the film were positive. It still shows hope for the film.