‘Garfield,’ ‘Furiosa’ repeat atop box office charts as slow summer grinds on

By LINDSEY BAHR
AP Film Writer

It was a quiet weekend at North American movie theaters, 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. and Canada. That puts its running domestic total at $49.7 million and its global sum at $114.4 million against a $168 million production budget.

There were several new releases that opened on over 1,000 screens this weekend: Sony/Crunchyroll’s anime “Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle”; IFC’s horror “In a Violent Nature”; Roadside Attractions’ Diane Keaton-Alfre Woodard-Kathy Bates comedy “Summer Camp”; And Bleecker Street’s father-son drama “Ezra.” None managed to crack the top five, however.

Disney also released the well-reviewed “ Young Woman and the Sea,” starring Daisy Ridley as the first woman to swim the English Channel, but did not report its ticket sales. Likewise, Richard Linklater’s “ Hit Man ” is currently playing in select theaters around the country before it comes to streaming next week, but Netflix does not release box office numbers.

Second place went to Paramount’s “ IF,” with $10.8 million in its third weekend. John Krasinski’s imaginary friends fantasy starring Ryan Reynolds and Cailey Fleming has now made over $80.4 million domestically and $138 million worldwide. Disney/20th Century Studios’ “ Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes ” landed in fourth place in its fourth weekend with $8.8 million. It has now made $140 million domestically and $337.1 million globally.

And the Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt action-comedy “ The Fall Guy, ” which is currently available to purchase at home, rounded out the top five with $4.2 million, bringing its domestic total to $80.3 million. Globally, the Universal release has made $157.9 million.

“Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle,” based on the Japanese high school volleyball series, made an estimated $3.5 million from 1,119 locations. The slasher “In a Violent Nature” opened to $2.2 million from 1,426 locations (a massive release for IFC Films and Shudder). And, “Ezra,” about a stand-up comedian (Bobby Cannavale) and his autistic son, earned $1.2 million from 1,320 screens.

The 2024 box office is struggling compared to both last year (down 23.9%) and pre-pandemic standards (down 42.2% from 2019 and 46.4% from 2018), according to data from Comscore. On this weekend last year, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” opened to $120.7 million while “The Little Mermaid” was still pulling in over $41.4 million in its second weekend. This year has yet to have any film open to over $100 million domestically.

While “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” had yet to storm theaters at this point last year, there had been several substantial hits including “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” ($1.36 billion global total), “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” ($845.5 million) and “Fast X” ($704.7 million).

“It should come as no surprise given the nature of this year’s trajectory that we are running this far behind,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “I understand why people are concerned about where this year is going, but it’s never too late to get things running again.”

“It’s a momentum business,” he added. “The attention right now is focused on what will be the big movie to get the summer moving in the right direction.”

That big summer movie could arrive in the form of “Inside Out 2,” which could open to over $85 million according to early projections, and propel other juggernauts like “Despicable Me 4” (July 3) and “Deadpool & Wolverine” (July 26).

Dergarabedian also noted that absent a big superhero movie, it’s the family-oriented films that have been resonating recently. They might not open to the biggest numbers, but as “IF” and “The Gafield Movie” have proven, they have staying power.

The top-grossing movie of this year remains “ Dune: Part Two,” which Warner Bros. released in early March and has made over $711 million globally. Its domestic take of $282.1 million represents 10.5% of the overall box office for 2024.

“Dune” filmmaker Denis Villeneuve over the weekend said that he was “disappointed to still be number one” while at the Canadian Screen Awards in Toronto where he was collecting an award.

“I hope soon that there will be other successes at the box office,” Villeneuve said, as reported by Yahoo. “I hope sooner or later that this summer box office will be much better.”

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “The Garfield Movie,” $14 million.

2. “IF,” $10.8 million.

3. “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” $10.8 million.

4. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” $8.8 million.

5. “The Fall Guy,” $4.2 million.

6. “The Strangers: Chapter 1,” $3.6 million.

7. “Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle,” $3.5 million.

8. “In a Violent Nature,” $2.1 million.

9. “Ezra,” $1.2 million.

10. “Sight,” $1.1 million.