Hollywood Disaster: Memorial Day Box Office Hits Decades-Low Earnings
On Memorial Day weekend 2024, Warner Bros.’ latest ‘Mad Max’ film, ‘Furiosa’ topped box office charts, though it fell short of expectations, making only $26.3 million in the start of the four-day weekend, significantly less than its estimated goal of $40 million. ‘The Garfield Movie’ came in a close second with an earning of $24 million over the same period. These underwhelming performances contributed to the worst Memorial Day box office in nearly 30 years, the slowest since 1995’s opening of ‘Casper’. Despite ‘Furiosa”s high production cost of $168 million, it has only pulled in $58.9 million globally till Sunday. On the other hand, ‘Garfield’, with a more moderate budget of $60 million, raked in over $91 million, fulfilling its producers’ expectations. Such performances suggest a potential decline in the theatre-going audience.
By George C. Upper III May 27, 2024 at 10:42am
The good news for Warner Bros. this Memorial Day weekend was that it’s “Furiosa,” the latest installment in the “Mad Max” franchise, looked to be the top grosser for the weekend that typically opens up summer blockbuster season.
Unfortunately, that was just about all the good news there was for Hollywood this weekend — and even that news wasn’t all that great.
“Furiosa” took in an estimated $26.3 million for the first three days of the four-day weekend, but the film was expected to gross north of $40 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter — a number it’s not likely to hit.
“The Garfield Movie” was close on its heels with an estimated $24 million for the first three days of the weekend and $31.1 million for the entire weekend.
“Furiosa” was expected to eke out the lead against the animated cat movie, but Warner Bros. “took the unusual position of not reporting a four-day number until Monday,” according to The Reporter.
The outlet suggested that Warner Bros. was in no rush to announce its film’s mediocre performance against “Garfield,” which was expected to open lower anyway.
But wait; it gets worse.
Both films scored a B+ from CinemaScore, which probably helps explain some of their lackluster performance.
But does it explain the worst Memorial Day box office in nearly 30 years?
That’s not a hypothetical question. Hollywood hasn’t seen a Memorial Day weekend this slow since 1995, when the eminently forgettable “Casper” opened with $22.5 million (a number, The Reporter was quick to point out, that was not adjusted for inflation).
Do you still frequent movie theaters?
The Reporter said that “Furiosa” took $168 million to make and brought in only $58.9 million worldwide through Sunday, “meaning it will need strong legs if it is to land in the black.”
Despite the presence of a strong female lead in Anya Taylor-Joy playing the younger version of Charlise Theron’s Furiosa in a prequel to 2015’s “Mad Max: Fury Road,” the audience for the film has thus far been 72 percent male, at least in North America, according to the outlet.
“Garfield,” on the other hand, cost only about $60 million to make, and has already brought in over $91 million through Sunday, The Reporter noted.
Perhaps more importantly, the film’s initial performance was about what producers expected, unlike “Furiosa’s” showing.
“The movie’s performance has successfully relaunched the franchise, insiders say,” according to The Reporter.
“IF” came in third this weekend, after premiering a week earlier, followed by “The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” which so far looks to be the only early-summer film that might live up to box-office expectations.
Fifth was “The Fall Guy,” which managed to stay in the Top Five despite being available to stream over the weekend on Amazon and other premium video services.
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