‘Furiosa,’ ‘Garfield’ Lead Slowest Memorial Day Box Office in Decades

 Cast member Anya Taylor-Joy attends the UK premiere of "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" in London, Britain, May 17, 2024. (Reuters)
Cast member Anya Taylor-Joy attends the UK premiere of "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" in London, Britain, May 17, 2024. (Reuters)
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‘Furiosa,’ ‘Garfield’ Lead Slowest Memorial Day Box Office in Decades

 Cast member Anya Taylor-Joy attends the UK premiere of "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" in London, Britain, May 17, 2024. (Reuters)
Cast member Anya Taylor-Joy attends the UK premiere of "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" in London, Britain, May 17, 2024. (Reuters)

Movie theaters are looking more and more like a wasteland this summer. Neither “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” nor “The Garfield Movie” could save Memorial Day weekend, which is cruising towards a two-decade low.

“Furiosa,” the Mad Max prequel starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, claimed the first place spot for the Friday-Saturday-Sunday weekend with $25.6 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday. Warner Bros. is waiting until Monday to release its four-day estimates.

“The Garfield Movie,” animated and family-friendly, was the other big new offering this weekend from Sony’s Columbia Pictures and Alcon Entertainment. It is claiming No. 1 for the four-day holiday weekend with an estimated $31.9 million in ticket sales through Memorial Day. Sony estimates its three-day earnings to be $24.8 million.

Aside from Memorial Day in 2020 when theaters were closed due to COVID-19, these are the lowest earning No. 1 movies in 29 years, since “Casper” earned $22.5 million (not adjusted for inflation) in its first four days in 1995. Big earners are more typical for the holiday weekend, which has had ten movies crack $100 million, led by “Top Gun: Maverick’s” record-setting $160 million launch in 2022.

Last year, the live-action “The Little Mermaid” joined the group with a $118 million debut. Audiences even turned out in greater numbers over the pandemic-addled weekend in 2021 for “A Quiet Place Part II,” which made over $57 million.

“Furiosa” was never expected to join the $100 million opener club, which Warner Bros. released on 3,804 screens in the US and Canada. But it was supposed to have a slightly stronger showing in the $40 million range over its first four days. That would have been more in line with its predecessor, “Mad Max: Fury Road,” which opened to $45.4 million in May 2015. “Fury Road,” starring Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, went on to gross nearly $380 million worldwide.

This new origin story in which Taylor-Joy plays a younger version of Theron’s character had a lot of things going for it, too, including strong reviews out of the just-wrapped Cannes Film Festival (it has an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes) and a splashy international press tour with many buzzy premiere looks from Taylor-Joy. With a reported $168 million production budget, not accounting for marketing and promotion, “Furiosa” has a long road to profitability.

“The Garfield Movie,” meanwhile, was more modestly budgeted, at a reported $60 million. Chris Pratt voices the lasagna-loving, Monday-hating orange cat in the movie that got scathing reviews from critics (it has a 37% on Rotten Tomatoes). Audiences meanwhile gave both “Furiosa” and “The Garfield Movie” a B+ CinemaScore and 4.5 stars out of 5 on PostTrak.

In its second weekend, John Krasinski’s “IF” fell 53%, adding $16 million through Sunday and $20.7 million through Monday, bringing its domestic total to $63.3 million. Worldwide, it has surpassed $100 million. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” now in its third weekend, added $13.4 million through Sunday, bringing its global total to $294.8 million, making it the fourth-highest grossing film of the year.

Earlier this week, the industry trade The Hollywood Reporter asked “what happened to the $100 million opener?” Notably, 2023 has had none yet. The biggest of the year was “Dune: Part Two,” which opened to $82.5 million and went on to earn over $711 million worldwide.

The lack of a recent runaway hit just puts more pressure on the upcoming films to make up the slack. Still on the way are a slew of potential blockbusters like Paramount’s “A Quiet Place: Day One” (June 27), Universal’s “Despicable Me 4” (July 3) and “Twisters” (July 19) and two heavy-hitters from Disney: “Inside Out 2” (June 14) and “Deadpool & Wolverine” (July 26).



Rio Goes Gaga for US Singer ahead of Free Concert

A fan shows a tattoo of US singer Lady Gaga at Rio's Copacabana Beach, where the pop star will stage a free concert. Daniel RAMALHO / AFP
A fan shows a tattoo of US singer Lady Gaga at Rio's Copacabana Beach, where the pop star will stage a free concert. Daniel RAMALHO / AFP
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Rio Goes Gaga for US Singer ahead of Free Concert

A fan shows a tattoo of US singer Lady Gaga at Rio's Copacabana Beach, where the pop star will stage a free concert. Daniel RAMALHO / AFP
A fan shows a tattoo of US singer Lady Gaga at Rio's Copacabana Beach, where the pop star will stage a free concert. Daniel RAMALHO / AFP

Behind his large studded sunglasses, Victor Faro's eyes were glued on the luxury hotel overlooking Copacabana beach where US superstar Lady Gaga is staying ahead of her free mega-concert in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.

Brazilians have been waiting more than a decade for the 39-year-old pop icon to perform in the country, and excitement is at fever pitch.

On Thursday, the city was crawling with "little monsters," as Gaga affectionately refers to her fans, decked out in T-shirts, wigs, baseball caps stamped with her image.

Faro sported plastic horns and a thin Salvador Dali-style moustache curled up at the sides -- two accessories that were part of Lady Gaga's look during her "Born This Way" and "Artpop" days -- as he waited outside the Copacabana Palace hotel for a glimpse of his idol.

'Mother' Gaga

Faro travelled from neighboring Espirito Santo state to be at Copacabana at 6:00 am on Thursday, in order to "be as close to the stage as possible."

A few meters away, Cinthia Rodrigues, a 28-year-old content creator in a platinum blonde wig and bandana, said she saw Lady Gaga "as a mother figure."

"I don't just identify with her look, but also her personality," she said, adding she was looking forward to a "historic concert."

Fresh off the release of her latest album "Mayhem," the star -- who played two nights in Mexico City last week -- vowed in February "to make sure this show is one you will never forget."

Gaga's previous plans to play in Brazil, at a rock festival in Rio in 2017, were canceled due to health issues.

Bringing joy

Rio is no stranger to mega-events.

Each year, around 1.6 million people attend its massive Carnival festivities.

In May 2024, Madonna gave one of the biggest shows of her four-decade career at Copacabana, drawing over a million fans and pumping millions of dollars into the local economy.

The shot in the arm from Lady Gaga's gig is expected to be even bigger.

"The fact of adding a concert by an international star each year on Copacabana beach helps stimulate economic activity in a period previously considered the off-season," Osmar Lima, Rio's secretary for economic development, said in a statement.

"It brings in money by attracting tourists and brings joy to the neighborhood," said Analice Analice Regina Moreira, a 73-year-old Copacabana resident.

The meat dress

Traders were doing a brisk trade in Lady Gaga-themed merchandise ahead of the concert; fans waited in line for up to an hour at one store.

The most popular item was a tank top inspired by the iconic "meat dress" she wore to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.

"We were expecting a lot of people but this is far bigger than we imagined," said Paulo Moreira Monteiro, who had to hire a security guard to keep shoppers in line.

He expects the gig to boost his revenues by 70 percent as compared with a regular week.