The Big Picture
- Saw X and Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie are teasing a pop culture event on social media, continuing the legacy of “Barbenheimer” through “Saw Patrol”.
- The online platforms of both movies are engaging in a friendly rivalry, with Paw Patrol sharing activities for children and Saw responding with a picture of Jigsaw “solving” one of them.
- While both movies would have found their audiences without the social media engagement, the online buzz has helped boost their box office potential. The movies will be released on September 29.
After the massive success Barbie and Oppenheimer had at the box office partially due to their friendly rivalry on social media, the teams behind two new movies from the upcoming fall season are joining the fun. Through their online platforms, Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie and Saw X are teasing a similar pop culture event, continuing the legacy of “Barbenheimer” through “Saw Patrol”. Both films are set to debut in theaters on September 29, setting the bases for the competition that will place audiences at the center of their bout. The summer movie season might be nearing its conclusion, but there’s still plenty of fun to be had before the biggest projects of the holiday season arrive.
It all started when the social media team behind the upcoming Paw Patrol installment posted a picture of activities for children to solve, with the post looking like regular business for an account trying to promote a movie for younger audiences. However, violence was in the air when the official Saw account shared the original post with a picture of the Jigsaw “solving” one of the activities in the image Paw Patrol originally shared. While the common release date between the two projects had been noticed before, this was the first time the coincidence was acknowledged by the studios themselves.
Both Barbie and Oppenheimer would’ve still turned out to be giant success stories, even if they didn’t have the enormous social media engagement to boost box office returns. Greta Gerwig‘s blockbuster film about a doll searching for the meaning of life became the highest grossing movie of the summer, currently sitting at around $1.2 billion at the worldwide box office. On the other hand, Christopher Nolan‘s drama about the man behind the atomic bomb recently became the highest grossing film in history to never top the domestic box office chart. There is no doubt both movies would have found their audiences even without the influence of “Barbenheimer,” however, the social media engagement certainly helped both movies’ box office potential.
Will Paw Patrol Escape From Jigsaw?
The fact that Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie and Saw X will be released at the start of fall gives them both plenty of time to find some legs before the biggest movies from November make their way to the big screen. Saw X will serve as a prequel set between the first two installments of the franchise, while The Mighty Movie will mark the brave team of puppies’ return to cinemas after Paw Patrol: The Movie premiered in 2021. The fight is on between two movies that will have a really hard time sharing an audience.
You can check the official post from both films’ accounts below, before they face each other on cinemas on September 29: