Is Saw Patrol the new Barbenheimer? We can answer that one for you right away: No.
This mashup meme emerged on X around June 20, when the movie news account @DiscussingFilm pointed out that Saw X and Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie share a release date of Sept. 29, 2023. In the midst of Barbenheimer hype, this inspired jokes about a nightmarish double bill of R-rated torture and kid-friendly dog copaganda. Saw Patrol.
But as this meme continued to spread, it attracted more and more backlash. Despite the public enthusiasm for Barbenheimer, double bills in general, and weird movie memes like Gentleminions and Morbius fever, many people view Saw Patrol as a forced copycat.
So while a Saw Patrol TikTok did go viral to the tune of 1.5 million views, most of the replies boil down to “Stop trying to make Saw Patrol happen.”
There’s already a widespread belief that this meme is some kind of astroturfing campaign or intentional marketing tactic. After all, the official Lionsgate, Paramount, and Paw Patrol accounts jumped on the meme within its first 24 hours. An automatic cringe move.
As many commenters pointed out, this double bill also sounds like a horrible viewing experience.
Barbenheimer went viral because Barbie and Oppenheimer make an amusingly inappropriate pairing. But crucially, they’re also good movies. They’re breaking box office records because audiences want to see them.
The same cannot be said for Paw Patrol (which most adults find annoying), or Saw (a gory horror franchise that gets consistently bad reviews). A handful of people will probably buy tickets for meme purposes, but this isn’t going to become A Thing.
