North American cinemas had a quiet weekend, again dominated by Sony’s Garfield the Movie, Warner Bros.’ Furiosa: The Mad Max Saga, and a host of continuing releases. In a departure from its Memorial Weekend release, the animated orange cat overtook Wilderness Warrior for its second release.
According to studio estimates on Sunday, “The Garfield Movie” topped the charts with $14 million in ticket sales, while “Furiosa” settled for third place in a close race with “If.” Both “If” and “Furiosa” are estimated to have grossed $10.8 million, giving “If” a slight lead.
“Garfield” only dropped 42% in its second weekend in North America and added $27 million overseas to top the global box office, bringing its worldwide haul to $152.2 million. The animated film, voiced by Chris Pratt, will likely have a virtual monopoly on the market until the release of “Inside Out 2” on June 14.
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Meanwhile, “Furiosa” made just under $10.8 million from 3,864 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, a 59% decrease from its opening weekend, giving it a domestic gross of $49.7 million and a worldwide gross of $114.4 million on a production budget of $168 million.
Several new releases opened on more than 1,000 screens this weekend, including Sony/Crunchyroll’s anime Haikyu!!: Battle at the Dump, IFC’s horror In a Violent Nature, Roadside Attractions’ comedy Summer Camp starring Diane Keaton, Alfre Woodard and Kathy Bates, and Bleecker Street’s father-son drama Ezra, but none made the top five.
Disney also released “Little Women,” in which Daisy Ridley became the first woman to swim across the English Channel, but has not released ticket sales. Similarly, Richard Linklater’s “Hitman” is currently playing in select theaters nationwide ahead of its streaming release next week, but Netflix has not released box office figures.
In second place is Paramount’s “IF,” which has grossed $10.8 million in its third weekend of release. John Krasinski’s imaginary friends fantasy starring Ryan Reynolds and Cailee Fleming has earned more than $80.4 million domestically to date and $138 million worldwide. Disney/20th Century Studios’ “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” came in fourth with $8.8 million in its fourth weekend of release. To date, it has grossed $140 million domestically and $337.1 million worldwide.
And The Fall Guy, an action-comedy starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt that’s available domestically now, rounded out the top five with $4.2 million for a domestic total of $80.3 million, bringing Universal Pictures’ worldwide haul to $157.9 million.
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Garfield, voiced by Chris Pratt, in a scene from the animated film, “Garfield the Movie.”
“Haikyu!!,” about a Japanese high school volleyball series, grossed an estimated $3.5 million from 1,119 theaters; splatter flick “In a Violent Nature” grossed $2.2 million from 1,426 theaters (a big hit for IFC Films and Shudder); and “Ezra,” about a stand-up comedian (Bobby Cannavale) and his autistic son, grossed $1.2 million from 1,320 screens.
According to ComScore data, the 2024 box office is struggling compared to last year (down 23.9%) and pre-pandemic standards (down 42.2% from 2019 and 46.4% from 2018). This weekend last year, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” made $120.7 million on its opening day, and “The Little Mermaid” still brought in more than $41.4 million in its second weekend. No film has yet grossed more than $100 million domestically this year.
At this time last year, “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” hadn’t yet become huge hits in theaters, but there were several blockbusters, including “Super Mario Bros. The Movie” ($1.36 billion worldwide), “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” ($845.5 million) and “The Fast and the Furious” ($704.7 million).
“Given this year’s trends, it’s not surprising to see it lagging behind so far,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore. “It’s understandable that people are concerned about how this year is going, but it’s not too late to get things back on track.”
“This is a momentum business,” he added. “All eyes are now on what the big movies are going to be that will get the summer going in the right direction.”
That summer’s big movie could come in the form of Inside Out 2, which early projections suggest could gross more than $85 million and serve as a driving force for other blockbusters like Despicable Me (due out July 3) and Deadpool & Wolverine (due out July 26).
Dergarabedian also noted that in the absence of big superhero movies, family-friendly films have been popular lately — they may not do as well at the box office, but they have staying power, as films like “If” and “A Garfield Movie” have proven.
This year’s top-grossing film remains “Dune Part 2,” which Warner Bros. released in early March and has made more than $711 million worldwide. Its domestic gross of $282.1 million will account for 10.5% of all box office receipts in 2024.
“I’m disappointed that it’s still number one,” Dune director Denis Villeneuve said while accepting his award at the Canadian Screen Awards ceremony in Toronto last weekend.
“I expect other films to be box office successes soon,” Villeneuve said, according to a Yahoo report. “I’m hoping that sooner rather than later we’ll have a better box office performance this summer.”
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These are estimates of ticket sales in U.S. and Canadian theaters from Friday through Sunday, according to ComScore. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.
1. Garfield the Movie, $14 million.
2nd place: “IF” $10.8 million
3. Furiosa: The 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. “Strangers: Chapter One,” $3.6 million
7. “Haikyu!!: Battle at the Dump,” $3.5 million
8. “In a Violent Nature” $2.1 million
9. “Ezra” $1.2 million
10. “Sight,” $1.1 million
