Cinema halls are looking increasingly like a desert this summer. Neither “ Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga ” still ” The Garfield Movie “ could save the Memorial Day weekend, which is heading for a two-decade low.
” Angry,” the Mad Max prequel starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, took first place for the Friday-Saturday-Sunday weekend with $25.6 million, based on studio estimates Sunday. Warner Bros. is waiting until Monday to release its estimates for the subsequent 4 days.
Family-friendly animation “The Garfield Movie” was the other big new offering this weekend from Sony's Columbia Pictures and Alcon Entertainment. With an estimated $31.9 million in ticket sales through Memorial Day, it is the No. 1 film of the four-day holiday weekend. Sony estimates its three-day take at $24.8 million.
Except for Memorial Day in 2020, when theaters were closed due to COVID-19, these are the lowest-grossing No. 1 movies in 29 years, since “Casper” made $22.5 million (not adjusted for inflation) in its first four days in 1995. Big earners are more typical of the holiday weekend, when ten films cracked the $100 million mark, led by “Top Gun: Maverick” opens in 2022 with a record-breaking $160 millionLast year, the live-action film “The Little Mermaid” was added with a debut of 118 million dollars. The audience numbers were even higher than the previous year. Pandemic-Confused Weekend in 2021 for “A Quiet Place II,” which grossed over $57 million.
“It was a reasonably quiet Memorial weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore's senior media analyst. “A few things didn't occur that caused this case: We didn't have a tailwind for the summer. We began the summer with out a Marvel movie. In some ways, we've been attempting to play catch-up all 12 months.”
Furiosa was never expected to join the club of $100 million opening films that Warner Bros. released in 3,804 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. But the film was expected to make a slightly stronger $40 million in its first four days. That would have been more in line with its predecessor, Mad Max: Fury Road, which opened to $45.4 million in May 2015. Fury Road, starring Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, grossed nearly $380 million worldwide.
This new origin story, in which Taylor-Joy plays a younger version of Theron's character, also had a lot to offer, including good reviews from the just concluded Cannes Film Festival (it has an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes) and a spectacular international press tour with many exciting premiere appearances from Taylor-Joy. Internationally, the film grossed $33.3 million, for a worldwide opening of $58.9 million. With a production budget of $168 million, not including marketing and advertising, Furiosa has a long way to go to break even.
The Garfield Movie had a more modest budget of $60 million and is considered a solid start for the franchise. The film has already opened internationally and has grossed over $66 million to date. Its domestic opening far surpassed the first weekends of previous attempts at Garfield films.
Chris Pratt voices the lasagna-loving, Monday-hating orange cat in the film, which received scathing reviews (37% on Rotten Tomatoes). Audiences gave both Furiosa and Garfield the Movie a B+ CinemaScore and 4.5 out of 5 stars on PostTrak.
In its second weekend, John Krasinski's “IF” fell 53%, adding $16.1 million through Sunday and $20.7 million through Monday, bringing its domestic total to $63.3 million. Worldwide, it has crossed the $100 million mark. Now in its third weekend, “Reign of the Planet of the Apes” added $13.4 million through Sunday, bringing its worldwide total to $294.8 million and making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of the year.
All this results in a Summer cinema season that will not only fall short of the normal $4 billion mark, but may even struggle to reach $3 billion. Earlier this week, industry expert The Hollywood Reporter asked: what happened to the $100 million opener? ” Remarkably, there was none in 2024. The biggest of the year was “Dune: Part 2,” which opened with $82.5 million and grossed over $711 million worldwide.
“Movie attendance begets movie attendance,” Derarabedian said. “Every studio hopes that each other studio can have a giant hit.”
The lack of a current huge hit increases the pressure on upcoming films to make up the deficit. on the best way are various potential blockbusters akin to Paramount's “A Quiet Place: Day One” (June 27), Universal's “Despicable Me 4″ (July 3) and ” Twisters ” (July 19) and two heavyweights from Disney: “Inside Out 2” (June 14) and “ Deadpool and Wolverine “ (July 26).
“It's not over yet,” Dergarabedian said. “There are still a lot of big movies on the way. The summer heat is here so the movies can really deliver in June and July.”
- “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” $25.6 million.
- “Garfield: The Movie,” $24.8 million.
- “IF,” $16.1 million.
- “Reign of the Planet of the Apes,” $13.4 million.
- “The Fall Guy,” $5.9 million.
- “The Strangers: Chapter 1,” $5.6 million.
- “Sight,” $2.7 million.”
- “Challengers,” $1.4 million.
- “Babes,” $1.1 million.
- “Back to Black,” $1.1 million.
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