After Slowest Memorial Day Box Office In Decades, Will Summer Movie Season Rebound?
Moviegoers sent an alarming message to Hollywood studios over the long Memorial Day weekend. The four-day box-office haul hit a 30-year low as offerings like “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and “Garfield” landed with a thud.
The Warner Bros.’ Mad Max prequel, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, underperformed in its debut with $25.6 million between Friday and Sunday and $32.3 million through Memorial Day, according to BoxOfficeMojo. An alarming start for this fifth installment in the post-apocalyptic series, with a production budget of $168 million: its 2015 predecessor, the legendary “Mad Max: Fury Road,” starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, had debuted to $45 million in a normal, three-day weekend.
Instead of dominating the box office as expected, George Miller’s film found itself in a shockingly close race for the most-watched title with Sony’s animated and family-friendly “The Garfield Movie,” which took in $24.8 million over the weekend and $32 million over the four days. At least the big-screen adventures of the lasagna-loving, Monday-hating orange cat cost “only” $60 million.
Aside from Memorial Day in 2020, when theaters were closed due to COVID-19, these are the lowest-earning No. 1 movies in 29 years, since “Casper” earned $22.5 million (not adjusted for inflation) in its first four days in 1995. Big earners are more typical for the holiday weekend, which has had ten movies crack $100 million, led by “Top Gun: Maverick’s” record-setting $160 million launch in 2022. Last year, the live-action “The Little Mermaid” joined the group with a $118 million debut. Audiences even turned out in greater numbers over the pandemic-addled weekend in 2021 for “A Quiet Place Part II,” which made over $57 million.
Without a strong draw, overall ticket sales are running 22 percent behind last year’s and 41 percent behind 2019’s, according to Comscore. None of this bodes well for the big popcorn season. It will almost certainly fall short of last year’s roughly $4 billion total. This year was the first in many without a Marvel movie to kick off the summer. And none of May’s would-be blockbusters – including Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt’s action-comedy “The Fall Guy,” director John Krasinski’s family-friendly “IF,” and “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” – could make up for the absence of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Audiences have been indifferent to most of these new films, though most have been well-reviewed. The hope is that the June and July releases of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Despicable Me 4,” and “Inside Out 2” will stop the free fall.
Source: Variety
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Moviegoers sent an alarming message to Hollywood studios over the long Memorial Day weekend. The four-day box-office haul hit a 30-year low as offerings like “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and “Garfield” landed with a thud.
The Warner Bros.’ Mad Max prequel, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, underperformed in its debut with $25.6 million between Friday and Sunday and $32.3 million through Memorial Day, according to BoxOfficeMojo. An alarming start for this fifth installment in the post-apocalyptic series, with a production budget of $168 million: its 2015 predecessor, the legendary “Mad Max: Fury Road,” starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, had debuted to $45 million in a normal, three-day weekend.
Instead of dominating the box office as expected, George Miller’s film found itself in a shockingly close race for the most-watched title with Sony’s animated and family-friendly “The Garfield Movie,” which took in $24.8 million over the weekend and $32 million over the four days. At least the big-screen adventures of the lasagna-loving, Monday-hating orange cat cost “only” $60 million.
Aside from Memorial Day in 2020, when theaters were closed due to COVID-19, these are the lowest-earning No. 1 movies in 29 years, since “Casper” earned $22.5 million (not adjusted for inflation) in its first four days in 1995. Big earners are more typical for the holiday weekend, which has had ten movies crack $100 million, led by “Top Gun: Maverick’s” record-setting $160 million launch in 2022. Last year, the live-action “The Little Mermaid” joined the group with a $118 million debut. Audiences even turned out in greater numbers over the pandemic-addled weekend in 2021 for “A Quiet Place Part II,” which made over $57 million.
Without a strong draw, overall ticket sales are running 22 percent behind last year’s and 41 percent behind 2019’s, according to Comscore. None of this bodes well for the big popcorn season. It will almost certainly fall short of last year’s roughly $4 billion total. This year was the first in many without a Marvel movie to kick off the summer. And none of May’s would-be blockbusters – including Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt’s action-comedy “The Fall Guy,” director John Krasinski’s family-friendly “IF,” and “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” – could make up for the absence of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Audiences have been indifferent to most of these new films, though most have been well-reviewed. The hope is that the June and July releases of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Despicable Me 4,” and “Inside Out 2” will stop the free fall.
Source: Variety
Share:
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