'Garfield' Tops While 'Furiosa' Flops Amid Awful Memorial Day Weekend Box Office

Yes, theaters are having existential issues, but the core problem right now is the slew of smaller-scale films and B-level franchise flicks. It's the movies, not *the movies.*

Sony and Alcon’s The Garfield Movie was the surprise winner at the Fri-Mon Memorial Day weekend box office, although in this case, it’s entirely “winner” by default. Neither film opened above and beyond, with around $31.2 million, but the Chris Pratt-starring toon was cheap enough that it didn’t have to break records to break even. The critical acclaim and film nerd/online bubble popularity of Mad Max: Fury Road didn’t translate to general audience interest for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. No matter which film “tops” the charts when the final figures are released, it’ll be the lowest Memorial Day chart-topper — sans inflation — since Casper ($22 million) in 1995. And in terms of overall Memorial Day weekend earnings, around $123 million for the Fri-Mon frame, it’ll be the lowest (again sans inflation) since 1995. 

Yes, movie tickets averaged $4.40 twenty-nine summers ago, with no upcharges for 3-D or Imax auditoriums. Moreover, the few smaller-scale releases (French Kiss, Crimson Tide and Casper alongside the big-deal Die Hard: With a Vengeance) were fine on that mid-90s curve. However, June 1995 had the triple whammy of Batman Forever, Pocahontas and Apollo 13 lying in wait. Yes, Bad Boys: Ride or Die should perform like a mid-2000s Will Smith flick when it opens in two weeks, and we’re all hoping that Inside Out 2 performs closer to a 2010s Pixar sequel than a 2020s Disney/Pixar original. However, as we all saw coming, the issue with the summer movie season in 2024 is primarily the commercial quality of the movies offered up thus far in summer 2024.