2024 is struggling to compete with last year’s impressive box office numbers … with 2 expected blockbusters underperforming over Memorial Day weekend, doing historically bad.
A Comscore report shows “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and “The Garfield Movie” both failed to impress this holiday weekend … bringing in only $32 million and $31.1 million, respectively.
While ‘Furiosa’ did find itself in the No.1 spot … its box office total was strikingly different than what “The Little Mermaid” brought in last year. For the record, the live-action remake brought in $117 million on its opening weekend.
Don’t forget “Top Gun: Maverick” the year before that … which brought in a record-breaking $160 million in its first four days — with many crediting the Tom Cruise film for saving the theater business after the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown business.
The Anya Taylor-Joy-led ‘Mad Max’ prequel reportedly is the lowest-grossing No. 1 flick for Memorial Day weekend in 29 years — with ‘Casper’ still holding the title with its measly $22.5 million opening back in 1995. Now. ‘Furiosa’ is the second-place runner-up … oof.
This is part of a general trend in 2024 so far … with this year’s box office numbers being relatively slow for the first few months, with star-studded films like “IF” and “The Fall Guy” both experiencing disappointing debuts.
“Dune: Part Two” has been the exception so far .. bringing in $81.5 million its first weekend in theaters — but the viral popcorn buckets may’ve helped with that.
Things will hopefully pick up this summer when Marvel’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” hits theaters in July … $8 million presale tickets have already been sold, so it’s looking promising so far.
Marvel might have to save the day yet again … ’cause Anya and co. just ain’t cutting it.