Box Office: 'Furiosa' Is Bombing For Same Reasons as 'Solo' and 'Blade Runner 2049'

Online fandom does not equal audience interest. Moviegoers do not want prequel origin stories for major franchise co-stars played by younger, less famous actors.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is the latest failed “nobody asked for this” IP extension. “Once was special” is again “par for the course,” with online fandom mistaken for general audience interest. Meanwhile, even with Chris Pratt providing vocals, interest in Garfield is not much bigger/better than 20 years ago when Bill Murray did the honors. We’re looking at potentially the worst Memorial Day weekend, with around $124 million over four days, since Roland Emmerich’s doomed Godzilla opened in May 1998. That’s not accounting for 26 years of inflation. With no significant releases next weekend, this May will barely top the $321 million total (in terms of films released this month) of 2021. But we shouldn’t be surprised. In a healthy, well-stocked, pre-COVID theatrical ecosystem, Furiosa was still a long shot, and The Garfield Movie wasn’t supposed to be some kind of ironic theatrical savior.