Box Office Disappointment as ‘Garfield and ‘Furiosa’ Fail to Deliver

Hollywood was left reeling after having the “worst Memorial Day Weekend since 1995.”

Huh, it seems everyone preferred to spend the first weekend of summer doing enjoyable activities like having a cookout or boating as opposed to being locked up in a dark theater. Shocker.

The Daily Wire reports:

Expectations were high for the Memorial Day weekend box office as “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” exceeded targets for ticket pre-sales. Ultimately, the film had a disappointing opening, with $32 million in total sales for the four-day weekend. “The Garfield Movie” made just over $31 million.

If “Furiosa and “Garfield” were the films in question, and I can’t say I blame anyone for skipping out.

Don’t get me wrong, my husband and I were big fans of “Mad Max: Fury Road,” a remake that was released in 2015. I love me some Tom Hardy, and despite the fact that Charlize Theron is a crazy lady in real life, I enjoyed her performance as Furiosa. However, making another movie with a completely different actress playing Furiosa and no Mad Max is a harder sell for those who may have been a fan of the original. This combined with the fact that Hollywood has been putting out stinkers left and right has undoubtedly made people hesitant to go to the movies. $30 popcorn, anyone?

The article continues:

Total sales for the holiday weekend topped out at just $128.3 million, per CNN, representing a steep decline from the same time span in 2023, which brought in just under $205 million. It’s well under the top performing Memorial Day weekend in 2013 when moviegoers spent $314.3 million, driven mainly by the release of that year’s mega-hit “Fast & Furious 6.”

“There’s no way to sugarcoat it, the numbers that are coming out this weekend are nothing to write home about,” Paul Degarabedian, senior media analyst with Comscore, told CNN about the disappointing results. The next lowest Memorial Day weekend was led by “Casper” in 1995, with total box office sales totaling just over $117 million.

Movies aren’t what they used to be. These days they’re either remakes of classics, superhero movies or films with blatant political agendas. Audiences aren’t stupid—and until Hollywood realizes we expect more from our entertainment, more flops will come.