Movie theaters are increasingly looking like a wasteland this summer. Neither “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” nor “The Garfield Movie” could save Memorial Day weekend, which is heading towards its lowest level in two decades.
“Furiosa,” the Mad Max prequel starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, took first place over the weekend of Friday, Saturday and Sunday with $25.6 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday. Warner Bros. is waiting until Monday to release its four-day estimates.
“The Garfield Movie”, animated and aimed at the whole family, was the other big news this weekend from Sony’s Columbia Pictures and Alcon Entertainment. It is claiming the top spot for the four-day holiday weekend with an estimated $31.9 million in ticket sales through Memorial Day. Sony estimates its three-day earnings at $24, 8 million.
With the exception of Memorial Day in 2020, when theaters were closed due to COVID-19, these are the lowest-grossing films at No. 1 in 29 years, since “Casper” grossed $22.5 million (not adjusted for inflation ) in the first four days in 1995. The big earners are more typical of the holiday weekend, which saw ten films gross $100 million, led by the record-breaking $160 million 2022 release of “Top Gun: Maverick.” Last year, the live-action “The Little Mermaid” joined the group with a $118 million debut. Audiences turned out in greater numbers during 2021’s pandemic-filled weekend for “A Quiet Place Part II,” which grossed more than $57 million.
“This was a pretty slow Memorial weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “Some things didn’t happen that created this situation: we didn’t have a favorable wind at the beginning of the summer. We started the summer without a Marvel movie. In some ways, we’ve been playing catch-up all year.”
“Furiosa” was never expected to join the $100 million opening club that Warner Bros. released on 3,804 screens in the US and Canada. But it should perform a little stronger, in the $40 million range, in the first four days. That would be more in line with its predecessor, “Mad Max: Fury Road,” which debuted with $45.4 million in May 2015. “Fury Road,” starring Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, grossed nearly $380 million in Worldwide.
This new origin story in which Taylor-Joy plays a younger version of Theron’s character also had a lot of things going for it, including strong reviews from the recently concluded Cannes Film Festival (it has an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes) and a tour international press conference with plenty of Taylor-Joy’s debut looks. Internationally, it grossed US$33.3 million, totaling a global launch of US$58.9 million. With a reported production budget of $168 million, without taking into account marketing and promotion, “Furiosa” has a long road to profitability.
Meanwhile, “The Garfield Movie” had a more modest budget, estimated at $60 million, and is being seen as a solid entry into the franchise. It previously opened internationally and has raised over $66 million to date. Its home release far surpassed the opening weekends of previous Garfield movie attempts.
Chris Pratt voices the orange cat who loves lasagna and hates Mondays in the film that received scathing reviews from critics (it has 37% on Rotten Tomatoes). Meanwhile, audiences gave “Furiosa” and “The Garfield Movie” a B+ CinemaScore and 4.5 stars out of 5 on PostTrak.
In its second weekend, John Krasinski’s “IF” dropped 53% to $16.1 million through Sunday and $20.7 million through Monday, bringing its domestic total to $63.3 million . Worldwide, it exceeded US$100 million. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” now in its third weekend, has grossed $13.4 million through Sunday, bringing its global total to $294.8 million, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of the year .
All of this adds up to a summer movie season that will not only fall short of the normal $4 billion threshold, but may even struggle to reach $3 billion. Earlier this week, industry trader The Hollywood Reporter asked “what happened to the $100 million opening? ” Notably, 2024 has yet to have any. The biggest of the year was “Dune: Part Two”, which debuted with US$82.5 million and grossed more than US$711 million worldwide.
“Going to the movies begets going to the movies,” Derarabedian said. “Every studio is rooting for everyone else to have a big success.”
The lack of a recent big hit only puts more pressure on upcoming films to make up the gap. Still on the way are a number of potential blockbusters, including Paramount’s “A Quiet Place: Day One” (June 27), Universal’s “Despicable Me 4” (July 3) and “Twisters” (July 19). ) and two major Disney hits. : “Inside Out 2” (June 14) and “Deadpool & Wolverine” (July 26).
“It’s not over yet,” Dergarabedian said. “There are a lot of big films on the way. The summer heat is too strong for the June and July films to really deliver.”
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final national numbers will be released on Monday.
1. “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”, $25.6 million.
2. “The Garfield Movie,” $24.8 million.
3. “SE”, US$16.1 million.
4. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” $13.4 million.
5. “The Fall Guy,” $5.9 million.
6. “The Strangers: Chapter 1,” $5.6 million.
7. “Vision,” $2.7 million.”
8. “Challengers,” $1.4 million.
9. “Babies,” $1.1 million.
10. “Back to Black,” $1.1 million.
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