‘Furiosa’ sneaks past ‘Garfield’ to claim No. 1 spot over Memorial Day holiday weekend

Published 12:00 pm Tuesday, May 28, 2024

By The Associated Press

Furiosa won the holiday box office over Garfield by a hair.

It was a close race, but the wasteland warrior of “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” came out slightly ahead of the plump orange cat with an estimated $32 million in ticket sales over the four-day weekend according to studio estimates Monday. “The Garfield Movie,” a Sony release, earned $31.1 million in its first four days.

Including international showings, the running global earnings for “Furiosa” are at $64.8 million. But victory is a long way off for the $168 million production starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth. George Miller’s prequel stormed theaters riding on great reviews and was expected to have at least a slightly stronger debut.

For Sony, the launch of the more modestly budgeted “The Garfield Movie” is a win even without the bragging rights of being in first place. The animated film featuring the voice of Chris Pratt is likely to have a long life at the box office thanks to 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.

But this weekend has also been a sobering one for Hollywood as one of the worst Memorial Day weekend box office showings in decades, excluding 2020 when theaters were closed. Ticket sales are down 22% from 2023 and the gap may just get bigger as the summer goes on. Remember, at this point last year “Barbenheimer” hadn’t even happened.

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Estimated ticket sales are for Friday through Monday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore.

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.