Much has been made of the post-pandemic theatrical experience and the takeover of streaming, but there have been promising signs for the state of cinema. Last summer’s Barbenheimer got at least hundreds of thousands of butts in seats, and just this weekend after winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes, director Sean Baker declared, “The future of cinema is where it began—in a movie theater!”
Unfortunately, this weekend at the U.S. box office was not one of those good signs. This Memorial Day Weekend, which is typically viewed as not just the unofficial start to summer but the beginning of the summer movie season, was the lowest-grossing in almost 30 years, per Variety. The trade outlet has declared it a tie between the two highest-grossing films of the weekend—Furiosa and Garfield—but it does look like the former was able to eke out a bit of a victory, even if it wasn’t a super convincing one. Accounting through Sunday, Box Office Mojo shows Furiosa grossing $25.5 million, while Garfield sits at $24.7 million.
Of course, $25 million isn’t a terrible place to start, but compared to Furiosa’s nearly $170 million budget, promotional push, and Cannes premiere, it’s undeniably a let down. In 2015, Mad Max: Fury Road opened to about $45 million—far behind that weekend’s winner, Pitch Perfect 2, which grossed nearly $70 million in its opening bow. But 2024's previous two weekends, led by The Fall Guy, Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes, and IF, all seemed to underperform, too, contributing to a narrative that the box office is in trouble. This is debatable at this point; The Fall Guy’s marketing didn’t make the film seem as fun as it apparently was, and IF just doesn’t seem that good (we gave it a D+).
Anyways, here’s the whole top ten of the weekend, courtesy of Box Office Mojo:
- Furiosa
- Garfield
- IF
- Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes
- The Fall Guy
- The Strangers: Chapter 1
- Sight
- Challengers
- Back To Black
- Babes