Box office The Creator grossed $40.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $63.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $104.3 million. The film made $6.1 million and $4.3 million in its second and third weekend, finishing fifth both times. Prior to its release, Cindy White of
The A.V. Club cited the mid-teen estimates were due to it being an original film (not based on an existing
IP), cast and filmmakers not being entirely household names (save for Washington and Janney), poor timing of the release in the midst of
societal and governmental issues regarding
generative AI's place in everyday life, and lackluster marketing and promotion due in-part to the ongoing 2023
WGA and
SAG-AFTRA strikes. Ben Sherlock of
Screen Rant thought being released in the midst of public debates over AI was a positive for the film rather than a negative and attributed the poor performance to its Rotten Tomatoes score and the price of cinema tickets. Following its $14 million opening weekend, Richard Lawson of
Vanity Fair expressed hope that the film could become a
sleeper hit given its healthier performance overseas, saying: "The film's plotting may be derivative, its twists and emotional beats predictable. But there is still something rare and special in its execution; it's
Denis Villeneuve without the cold fussiness, the lacquered preening. Now that Edwards is free of
Star Wars (though his
Star Wars movie is a good one), he is a filmmaker to be fostered and encouraged, so that he might make ever more arresting entertainments like
The Creator."
Critical response The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised its visual effects, cinematography, action sequences and Edwards' direction, but criticized the writing and themes. Audiences surveyed by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled at
PostTrak gave it an 81% overall positive score, with 61% saying they would definitely recommend the film.
Peter Bradshaw of
The Guardian called it: "an intriguing, stimulating, exhilarating movie, which really does address – with both head and heart – the great issue of our age, AI." Pete Hammond of
Deadline Hollywood called it: "one of the most thought-provoking movies in some time, one to which attention must be paid." Brian Truitt of
USA Today described it as "a movie that makes you think about existence and the world around you, explodes your brain with cool visuals and sufficiently blows stuff up." Alex Godfrey of
Empire called it: "An inspired, soulful piece of sci-fi, the endlessly stunning visuals all in service of a heartfelt, sensitive story. Gareth Edwards is the real deal — this is fantastic, enveloping cinema." A.A. Dowd of
IGN wrote: "As pure spectacle,
The Creator is often jaw-dropping in its imagery, its relatively frugal special effects, and the detailed depth of its futuristic design. It's shakier as drama and sci-fi..." Graeme Guttmann of
Screen Rant wrote: "While the film's story may feel overstuffed and its action sequences repetitive at times,
The Creators bold vision and willingness to take risks make it a more exhilarating experience than safe, mediocre blockbusters." Tomris Laffly of
TheWrap called it "a film that works better as an allegory for acceptance rather than a warning against AI", and that "even if you can't look past such glaring miscalculations,
The Creator will still feel like a visually fulfilling journey that had been worth taking in the aftermath. Nowadays, there is absolutely nothing like it out there." Joey Magidson of
Awards Radar wrote: "You've never seen anything quite like this movie, which is a saying that gets bandied about a lot, but is pretty apt here...There was potential for an instant classic movie. We're not quite there, but what we've got is still damn good," while naming it a frontrunner for the
Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Jake Cole of
Slant praised the visual effects, writing: "The robots, which run a stylistic range from logical extrapolations of present-day models by companies like Boston Dynamics to the not-quite-perfect human simulacra of
A.I. Artificial Intelligence, all look not only plausible but physically present." Rodrigo Perez of
The Playlist called it "A familiar mélange and pastiche of sci-fi-tropes you've seen and felt before, filmmaker Gareth Edwards' science-fiction drama,
The Creator, is recognizable but, nonetheless, largely compelling." Reviews were not uniformly positive. David Ehrlich of
IndieWire described it as "
A.I. Artificial Intelligence meets
Children of Men" and wrote that "The most fundamental reason why
The Creator, for all of its shortcomings and clichés, ultimately sold me on its optimism is that it succeeds as a blueprint where it fails as a movie." David Rooney of
The Hollywood Reporter was mixed, calling it a "baggy, sentimental sci-fi epic," while Peter Debruge of
Variety thought that it "can hardly even keep its premise straight". Mark Jenkins of
The Washington Post wrote that the film "fails to develop the personalities and relationships that would give its central characters an affecting humanity." Jesse Hassenger of
Paste wrote: "For a designated last great hope of original sci-fi, this is a surprisingly programmatic picture." Rafael Motamayor of
/Film called it "visually stunning" but "a predictable and dumbed-down story that feels like Edwards doing
James Camerons
Avatar in terms of presenting bold worldbuilding and sci-fi ideas, but without the emotional resonance of that giant film. This is a very cool movie, but not necessarily a very good one." Glenn Whipp of the
Los Angeles Times felt the film lacked originality, writing: "there's precious little in
The Creator that feels fresh, particularly if you’ve seen one of the first two
Terminator movies, watched
The Last of Us or bought your kid (OK, yourself) a
Baby Yoda plush toy." Fionnuala Halligan of
Screen International wrote that it "lacks the intellectual depth or ambition of the films it references - from
Apocalypse Now to
Blade Runner,
The Terminator,
Star Wars and beyond to the imagery of
Kundun." Nicolas Rapold of
The New York Times criticized the film's tone, and wrote: "Edwards pushes the relatable ordinariness of the androids and hybrid "simulants", but the potential menace of A.I. inescapably looms."
Richard Roeper of
Chicago Sun-Times called it: "A great-looking but strange and mostly unsuccessful hybrid of futuristic sci-fi thrillers and Vietnam War films that combines elements of everything from
District 9 to
Blade Runner to
Ex Machina to the
Terminator franchise..."
Accolades The film was shortlisted in the categories of
Best Sound and
Best Visual Effects at the
96th Academy Awards, ultimately being nominated in both categories, and was longlisted in the categories of
Best Cinematography and
Best Special Visual Effects at the
77th British Academy Film Awards, ultimately being nominated in the latter category.
Special effects supervisor Neil Corbould garnered a rare trifecta of Best Visual Effects nominations in a single year, for his work on this film,
Napoleon, and
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. ==Notes==