Over the Memorial Day weekend, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” narrowly beat out “The Garfield Movie” at the box office.
The post-apocalyptic action film starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth took the top spot with an estimated $32 million in ticket sales over the four-day weekend, while the animated feature featuring the voice of Chris Pratt came in a close second with $31.1 million.
The final numbers won’t be officially settled until Tuesday, but for now, Warner Bros. can claim the number one movie in the country. “Furiosa” has already earned $64.8 million globally, but the $168 million production still has a long way to go before it can be considered a victory. Despite receiving great reviews, the prequel to the Mad Max franchise was expected to have a slightly stronger debut.
For Sony, the success of “The Garfield Movie” is a win, even without securing the top spot. The more modestly budgeted animated film is likely to have a long run at the box office, especially with the summer holiday beginning for school-age children. With its early international release, “The Garfield Movie” has already earned over $91.1 million against its $60 million production budget.
However, this Memorial Day weekend has been a sobering one for Hollywood, as it marks one of the worst box office showings in decades, excluding 2020 when theaters were closed due to the pandemic. Ticket sales are down 22% from 2023, and the gap may continue to widen as the summer progresses. It’s worth noting that at this point last year, the highly anticipated releases of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” dubbed “Barbenheimer,” hadn’t even occurred yet, setting a high bar for this year’s summer movie season.
As the box office numbers continue to roll in, the film industry will be closely watching to see how the rest of the summer unfolds and whether any upcoming releases can help boost ticket sales and bring audiences back to theaters in greater numbers.
Take a look at the figures —
1. “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” $32 million.
2. “The Garfield Movie,” $31.1 million.
3. “IF,” $21 million.
4. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” $17.2 million.
5. “The Fall Guy,” $7.7 million.
6. “The Strangers: Chapter 1,” $6.9 million.
7. “Sight,” $3.6 million.
8. “Challengers,” $1.8 million.
9. “Back to Black,” $1.4 million.
10. “Babes,” $1.2 million.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.