Warner Bros.’ Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga had the lowest box office earnings for a film over Memorial Day weekend. Despite high expectations, the prequel in the Mad Max series fell short, only making $26.2 million from Friday to Sunday. On Monday it earned an estimated $32 million over the holiday weekend. Furiosa narrowly passed Sony and Alcon’s The Garfield Movie in earnings. Garfield brought in $24 million over the weekend and an estimated $31.1 million over the four days.
Even though Furiosa came out on top, it is still the worst Memorial Day opening for a No. 1 film since 1995. This is excluding 2020 when theaters were closed due to the pandemic. Both films received a B+ CinemaScore but didn’t perform exceptionally well with audiences. With no other strong challengers contributing to the massive way to the Memorial Day box office, the overall revenue for the four days dropped to an estimated $128 million to $130 million. This is marking a 29-year low and a 37% decrease from last year.
According to Variety, “No matter the final order, it’s the worst Memorial Day weekend in nearly three decades. Excluding 2020 when theaters were entirely closed due to COVID. Box office comparisons to the same holiday weekend in 2023 are particularly tough, down by nearly 36%. Overall, this Memorial Day stretch adds to Hollywood’s summer woes as ticket sales remain 22% behind 2023 and a concerning 41% behind 2019, according to Comscore.”
The Memorial Day Box Office Earnings
Not only did domestic audiences show limited interest in Furiosa, but George Miller’s post-apocalyptic series also struggled internationally, earning $33.3 million from 75 territories, bringing its total worldwide earnings to $58.9 million. This is concerning given the film’s production cost of $168 million, not including additional expenses such as the global press tour and its appearance at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s unlikely to match the success of the previous Mad Max film, Mad Max: Fury Road, starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron,” which opened to $45 million and grossed $380 million globally.
According to NBC, Comscore senior analyst Paul Dergarabedian said this year the holiday frame came with several issues. “This was indeed a historically slow Memorial Day weekend for movie theaters. But this outcome was the result of many factors, including a disruption of the release dates for many films as a result of the Hollywood strikes,” as well as “a lack of a first-quarter blockbuster holdover.” He also noted that no movie so far this year has opened with a $100 million weekend. This is something that became common in the age of comic book blockbusters.
In comparison, last year’s live-action of The Little Mermaid brought in $118 million domestically over the holiday weekend, making it one of the most successful Memorial Day openings. The year before that, Top Gun: Maverick debuted with $160 million over Memorial Day weekend. Then it went on to earn over $700 million domestically. However, the absence of a Marvel movie this Memorial Day weekend was noticed. Marvel Studios typically launches the summer movie season with its big spring releases. For over a decade, Marvel’s superhero films have set the tone for the summer movie season. This is done with big releases in early May. Last year, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 earned $118 million domestically in its opening weekend. This year it was going to be Deadpool & Wolverine.
