Moviegoing remains in a sling, evident in Universal’s The Fall Guy currently coming in lower than expected with $28M this weekend. Perhaps Furiosa and Garfield can bring some zing over Memorial Day weekend at the end of the month.
Both hit three-week tracking Thursday, with the Warner Bros/Village Roadshow Mad Max prequel eyeing a $40M-$50M domestic opening over the Friday-Monday span of May 24-27 with Sony/Alcon Entertainment’s Garfield at $35M.
Earlier this week, some box office prognosticators believed it would be a closer race between the two at $30M+ apiece over four days, with the orange cat voiced by Chris Pratt having the edge. But George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Prequel, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, has the firepower of Imax and PLFs and a Cannes Film Festival world premiere as a global loudspeaker.
Garfield, of course, is tracking with families and older adults. Unaided awareness — the polling category where respondents immediately name a movie they plan on seeing without being guided by a pollster — is just under that of Kung Fu Panda 4 ($57.9M) and 2019’s The Addams Family animated movie ($30.3M 3-day). First choice is strong with women under 25.
Furiosa‘s first choice is best with dudes over 25 with overall unaided awareness behind Mad Max: Fury Road ($45.4M), Blade Runner 2049 ($32.7M) and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ($60.3M).
Biggest Memorial Day weekend of all-time at the domestic box office was notched in 2022 by Top Gun: Maverick with $160.5M. Last year, Disney’s live-action take of classic toon, Little Mermaid, sang its way to a $118.8M stateside start over the four-day stretch.