'Furiosa' narrowly defeats 'The Garfield Movie' in Memorial Day showdown
In a tight race at the North American box office during the Memorial Day weekend, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga narrowly outperformed The Garfield Movie. Both Warner Bros. and Sony claimed their respective films topped the charts, each generating approximately $25M over the weekend. However, final figures revealed that Furiosa grossed $26.2M over the weekend and $32M through the four-day holiday, slightly surpassing Garfield's earnings of $24M and $31.1M, respectively.
Memorial Day weekend saw lowest box office haul in decades
This year's Memorial Day weekend marked the worst box office performance in nearly three decades, excluding 2020 when theaters were completely shut due to COVID-19. The box office was down by almost 36% compared to the same holiday weekend in 2023, which saw Disney's The Little Mermaid remake debut with a whopping $118M. Overall, ticket sales are still lagging 22% behind 2023 and a worrying 41% behind 2019 figures, as reported by Comscore.
'Furiosa' fell short of expectations despite winning weekend
Furiosa, the fifth installment in director George Miller's Mad Max series, underperformed despite leading the box office. Although it received positive reviews, the film failed to meet its projected earnings of $40M to $45M over the holiday stretch. This was a significant setback considering the film's substantial production cost of $168M. To date, Furiosa has earned a global total of $65M.
'The Garfield Movie' showed promising start despite lower earnings
The Garfield Movie, despite falling short of its projected earnings of $30-35M, had a promising start for a family film. The movie, which cost $60M to produce, has already generated significant revenue overseas. As of now, it has amassed $66.3M internationally and holds a global total of $91.1M, outpacing Furiosa in worldwide earnings.
Industry hopes pinned on upcoming Disney-Marvel release
Despite the disappointing box office results, the industry's attention is now focused on upcoming releases, particularly Disney-Marvel's tentpole, Deadpool & Wolverine set to debut on July 26. The film industry is hopeful that these new releases will help rejuvenate cinema attendance, which has not fully recovered since last year's strikes. The anticipation surrounding these future films underscores the industry's ongoing struggle to bounce back in a post-pandemic world.
