PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie soared past expectations this weekend, leading the pack with a take of nearly $23 million, Box Office Mojo is reporting. Tracking had the kid-friendly outing in the mid-teens, making this a big win for Paramount, especially considering that there were two other high profile releases it was up against.

For those keeping score, the opening of The Mighty Movie is nearly double what PAW Patrol: The Movie managed back in 2021, although that film came out in an entirely different climate. Not only was the box office still recovering from COVID, but it was also released on Paramount Plus the same day it came to theaters. Even more controversial, perhaps, was Regal Cinema’s total boycott of the movie, as they refused to show it on any of their screens in protest of the streaming date. With all of that in mind, the $40 million total domestic take it was able to pull off was quite impressive, so it’s no wonder that the studio was quick to move forward with a sequel.

PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie continues Nickelodeon’s insanely successful franchise which began with the launch of the series on Nick Jr. in 2013 (somewhat bizarrely despite the film’s target audience, the MPA still slapped it with a PG rating, which may or may not prove that the G rating is now dead). It also fared well with critics, and audiences love it so far with ‘A’ CinemaScore. How loudly can The Mighty Movie bark? That remains to be seen. There are no new animated films until Trolls Band Together opens on November 17th, but Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is still going to be enough to take a good chunk of this movie’s family audience when it comes out on October 13th. Nevertheless, The Mighty Movie has the benefit of being an easy sell–puppies getting superpowers is a fun idea–and a third film for the heroic dogs has already been greenlit.

As an aside, the news is less positive for Disney’s The Creator, which was released under the 20th Century Studios banner. The Mouse House has struggled to turn Fox releases into hits ever since they acquired them in 2019 (with a very notable exception being the titanic success of Avatar: The Way of Water last year). In this case, it wasn’t from a lack of trying, as Disney heavily marketed the effects-heavy sci-fi film. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, as The Creator managed only $14 million stateside, though this could be one that ends up being saved by international grosses.