‘Furiosa’ Bombs in Lowest-Grossing Memorial Day Weekend in Decades

George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road prequel, Furiosa, bombed at the box office over the holiday weekend. Along with The Garfield Movie, which also came in at the low end of expectations, they made up the lowest-grossing Memorial Day weekend in 29 years.

Furiosa, a sprawling epic starring Chris Hemsworth along with Anya Taylor-Joy as a younger version of Imperator Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron in Fury Road, finished the four-day weekend (including Thursday previews) with $32 million (via Variety). But Garfield was trailing close behind in his own War Rig; the sarcastic feline grossed $31.1M, about $4M below what analysts predicted. 

Shockingly, this is the lowest-grossing Memorial Day weekend since Casper netted $22 million back in 1995. Adjusted for inflation, that would be $45.2M in 2024. For context, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom opened to $33.9M ($69.7M adjusted) in 1984. That was a substantial number then, but it’s beyond disappointing 40 years later.

Garfield’s numbers are pretty solid for a family film budgeted at $60M; globally it has already earned $97M, so it should have no problem turning a profit. But Furiosa’s muted start is surprising.

Fury Road opened to $45M back in 2015, notably not on a holiday weekend, and went on to gross $380M worldwide. It lost its opening frame to Pitch Perfect 2 ($69.2M), but quickly overcame the musical sequel in the cultural zeitgeist. Considered one of the best action films ever made, Fury Road earned 10 Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture, and Best Director. It won six, including statues for sound and editing.

It’s unlikely Furiosa will have the same impact, despite its quality being on par with Fury Road. But whereas the 2015 film was a tight chase picture that came in just under two hours, Furiosa is a much talkier, more mythic world-building effort which runs 148 minutes and contains less relentless action than its predecessor.

Though graced with stellar reviews, the structural difference led to some backlash in the days before its release, potentially explaining the disappointing turnout. However, those who did see Furiosa were ecstatic. According to Deadline, PostTrak exit scores pegged the film at 4 ½ out of five, with 70 percent of audiences saying they’d recommend the film to friends and family. (Garfield was notably less well-received.)

Of course, the fact that franchise star Mad Max barely figures in the film (aside from a brief, voiceless cameo) might have dissuaded viewers, as well. Prequels to popular films rarely perform as well as sequels; while female-led action pictures not part of an established franchise have often faced difficulty finding their legs.

Furiosa will have some time to rebound this coming weekend. As Hollywood continues to see the fallout from last summer’s strikes, no new wide releases are set to hit cinemas until June 7. Until then, Furiosa will still occupy all IMAX and premium format screens, with accompanying higher ticket prices juicing its box office revenue.