‘Furiosa,’ ‘Garfield’ lead slowest Memorial Day weekend box office in decades

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” enjoyed one day at the top of the mainland China box office before being deposed by a crop of local new releases that opened in time for the Dragon Boat holiday. “Civil War” performed even more slowly. China’s Friday to Sunday weekend box office saw “Be My Friend” score $8.1 million (RMB57.7 million), albeit earned over just two days.

opened with an estimated $56 million in theaters over the weekend, handing Hollywood a much-needed summer hit and Smith his biggest success since he slapped Chris Rock at the Academy Awards.Expectations were all over the map for “Ride or Die” given the dismal moviegoing market thus far this summer and Smith’s less certain box-office clout. In the end, though, the Sony Pictures release came in very close to, or slightly above, its tracking forecast.“Ride or Die,” produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, is Smith’s first theatrical test since his 2022 slap of Rock earned him a 10-year Oscar ban.

The Numbers reported.The action comedy, which The Post called “mediocre,” is slated to bring in a total of $53 million this weekend, according to Variety.The sum pales in comparison to its predecessor, 2020’s “Bad Boys for Life,”which enjoyed a $62.5 million opening domestically, as per The Hollywood Reporter. “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” marks Smith’s first film since he slapped Chris Rock at the 2002 Oscars, and The Post said the actor was “completely dead behind the eyes,” in the flick.The supernatural horror “The Watchers,” starring Dakota Fanning, landed in second, with earnings of $2.9 million.The film, which was adapted from a 2022 novel by A.M.

Sony‘s R-rated Bad Boys: Ride or Die did $5.875M yesterday at previews that began at 3PM, an amount of cash, which actually is only 8% off from the previews of the franchise’s previous long-awaited threequel, 2020’s Bad Boys for Life, which did $6.36M. That’s a great start for Bad Boys: Ride or Die as it enters what has been an embattled marketplace due to lack of movie inventory from the strikes, not to mention — there hasn’t been any mass-appealing movies, that is outside of Disney/20th Century Studios’ Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (which just crossed $144.3M). Audience reaction last night to the Will Smith and Martin Lawrence reteam was 5 stars and 88% positive on Screen Engine/Comscore’s PostTrak, while Rotten Tomatoes audience score stands at 97%.

Naman Ramachandran Family fare was evidently the preferred choice during the U.K. and Ireland school half-term holidays as Paramount’s “IF” bounced up the charts to the top spot. In its third weekend, “IF” collected £1.5 million ($2 million) for a total of £9.5 million ($12.2 million).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two foreign-made animation movies opened on top of the mainland China box office over the latest weekend. Japanese film, “Doraemon the Movie: Nobita’s Earth Symphony” landed in first place, ahead of “The Garfield Movie,” though the match-up was not like-for-like. According to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway, “Doraemon” earned $12.6 million (RMB89.5 million) over the three days from its Friday release.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” maintained a narrow win at the South Korea weekend box office in its second week of release. The highest new release was local crime drama “The Plot.” Total weekend revenues in Korean cinemas were a modest $8.91 million. That figure keeps a post-COVID recovery on course, but progress is slow and incomplete.

dominated once again by Sony’s “The Garfield Movie,” Warner Bros.’ “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and a slew of holdovers.Flipping the script from their Memorial weekend openings, the animated orange cat crept ahead of the wasteland warrior in their second outing.“The Garfield Movie” earned a chart-topping $14 million in ticket sales while “Furiosa” settled into third place in a close race with “IF,” according to studio estimates on Sunday.Both “IF” and “Furiosa” are estimated to have earned $10.8 million, with “IF” getting the slight edge.“Garfield” fell only 42% in its second weekend in North America. It also topped the global box office adding $27 million from international territories, bringing its running worldwide to $152.2 million.The animated pic featuring the voice of Chris Pratt will essentially have the market to itself until “Inside Out 2” arrives on June 14.“Furiosa,” meanwhile, fell 59% from its first weekend, adding just under $10.8 million from 3,864 locations in the U.S.

Garfield is at No. 1 at the box office, but it’s been a sluggish early summer.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter “The Garfield Movie” clawed its way to first place, overtaking last weekend’s champion “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” at the domestic box office. This weekend (unlike last) wasn’t a nail-biter as “Garfield” effortlessly pulled ahead with $14 million from 4,108 theaters in its second weekend of release while “Furiosa” trailed in third place with $10.7 million from 3,864 venues in its sophomore outing. Now, Sony’s “The Garfield Movie” has grossed $51.5 million in North America and $152 million globally to date.

J. Kim Murphy If the summer box office is ever going to heat up, it’ll have to wait a while longer. In a weekend being led by holdovers, Sony’s “The Garfield Movie” looks to overtake “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” for first place on domestic charts.

It’s not all doom and gloom at the global box office as a handful of films reached milestones this week. 20th Century Studios/Disney’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has topped $300M worldwide, while Paramount’s IF and Sony/Alcon’s The Garfield Movie crossed the $100M mark.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has had a poor opening weekend at the cinema despite receiving rave reviews from critics.NME’s five star review of the long-awaited prequel to the Mad Max series described the film as “brilliant and unmissable” and said the film was “another extraordinary blockbuster juggernaut that in some sequences somehow excels even its predecessor, arresting viewers with its booming, utterly immersive world of grease, dust, motorbikes and carnage.”Directed by George Miller, the film stars Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa – a younger version of Charlize Theron’s character in Mad Max: Fury Road – and Chris Hemsworth as war lord Dementus.In the prequel, Taylor-Joy’s character is snatched as a child by the sadistic Dementus. Forced to ride through the Wastelands with a great biker horde, Furiosa must fight to find her way home while Dementus and fellow tyrant Immortal Joe battle for dominance in the desert.Despite a budget of $168million (£143million) to make, the film underperformed in its box office debut, only recouping $25.6million ($20million) between Friday and Sunday in the US.For cinemas in the US, it marked their worst Memorial Day performance in 29 years.The film did recoup an additional $33.3million (£26million) from international audiences, with a total of $58million (£45million) worldwide according to Variety.At Cannes, where the film received its premiere, it received a sx-minute standing ovation.Variety reported that Hemsworth grew emotional during the applause, while the actor was also filmed kissing director George Miller on the head.“We worked very hard on this film, and it’ll be very interesting to see what you make of it,” Miller said ahead of the screening.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter Garfield has another reason to hate Mondays. In a box office nail biter, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” narrowly emerged victorious over “The Garfield Movie” on North American charts. On Sunday, Warner Bros.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Last Frenzy,” a comedy film about a dying man’s last hurrah, retained the top spot in mainland Chinese cinemas for the third weekend of its four weeks on release. Other signs of theatrical malaise were plentiful. “The Last Frenzy” earned $5.8 million (RMB41.5 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Having received a rapturous reception a week earlier in Cannes George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” grabbed a more muted win at the South Korean box office. “Furiosa” opened with $3.35 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That represented a 39.5% share of the weekend’s total cinema-going market.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter Imperator Furiosa has battled ruthless kidnappers, raider attacks and maniacal warlords as she traverses a lawless Wasteland. And yet her fiercest adversary, at least today, seems to be a lazy cat who loves lasagna. The Warner Bros.

EARLY SUNDAY AM UPDATE: The 4-day fight between Warner Bros‘ Furiosa and Alcon/Sony‘s The Garfield Movie will drag out into Monday, both titles currently in a dead heat eyeing $31M over 4-days, $25M over 3 days.

J. Kim Murphy It’s a bit of a wasteland out there for theaters this summer, as Memorial Day weekend is closing out a very underwhelming May on a down note. Warner Bros.’ “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” is projected to open well short of the industry’s prior estimates for a $40 million-plus bow over the four-day window.

Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach is celebrating its 20th anniversary with none other than the Navy’s elite flight demonstration squadron, the Blue Angels. It’s been a big week for the Blues — not only are they returning to New York’s airspace, but they’re making headlines in a big way thanks to a new Prime Video documentary that followed the squad during the 2022 season.“The Blue Angels,” which hit Amazon’s streaming service on May 23 after a weeklong run in IMAX theaters, is a passion project of actor Glen Powell, who produced the doc alongside J.J.