Tight Competition ‘Furiosa’s: A Mad Max Saga’ and ‘The Garfield Movie’ at the Box Office

image source: reddit/boxoffice

After vying for the top of the US box office over the Memorial Day holiday period, George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga managed to secure the number one spot against The Garfield Movie by a narrow margin.

Warner Bros. and Sony, which produced both films, both claimed the No. 1 spot as they made around $25 million over the weekend. However, as of Monday, May 17, 2024, it was noted that Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga earned $26.2 million over the weekend and $32 million over four days.

That’s ahead of The Garfield Movie, which surprisingly lagged behind with $24 million over the weekend and $31.1 million over four days, according to Variety.

Even so, it was the lowest total in the nearly 30-year history of the Memorial Day holiday, excluding 2020 when all theaters were closed due to COVID-19. Compared to the same holiday last year, this achievement is quite a drastic decline of almost 36 percent, considering the Disney remake The Little Mermaid reached the peak of success with 118 million dollars and became one of the best achievements.

Globally, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has made 65 million dollars. As a movie with a production expenditure of 168 million dollars, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga this year is far from successful. The 32 million dollars in the first four days for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is the lowest since 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ($33.9 million), which was also a prequel and, at the time, the highest opening weekend of all time, beating Return of the Jedi in 1983.

The film, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, is predicted to struggle to match the franchise’s previous entry, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, which earned $45 million at its premiere (not during the holiday weekend) and grossed a sizable $380 million globally.

According to Comscore, the summer movie industry in Hollywood this year is considered miserable as ticket sales are still 22 percent behind 2023 and about 41 percent behind 2019. So far, there is no film that is considered to increase the quantity of visits to theaters. So, some movies that have been predicted to be released in June and July this year, such as Deadpool & Wolverine, Despicable Me 4, and Inside Out 2, are expected to change the narrative.

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