Furiosa Ties Garfield in Lackluster Memorial Day Weekend Box Office

This Memorial Day Weekend box office is a bit lighter than previous years, leading to a slow draw between Friday’s two significant releases. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is easily the highest profile debut of the weekend, arriving nine years after the wildly acclaimed Mad Max: Fury Road. Despite the love for Fury Road, and the incredible reviews for , George Miller’s new wasteland epic hasn’t been quite as big with audiences out of the gate as Warner Bros. had expected.

Furiosa and Sony’s The Garfield Movie are leading a slow holiday weekend, and they’re expected to tie atop the box office by the time all is said and done Monday night. According to the latest numbers from Variety, Furiosa and Garfield are both expected to land at $31 million for the four-day weekend, which is significantly lower than other Memorial Day years.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that not all IP is created equal. Previous Memorial Day holiday weekends have been headlined by enormous franchise continuations and live-action Disney remakes, most of which have been rated PG or PG-13. It’s no surprise Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, Top Gun: Maverick, and The Little Mermaid have set the box office ablaze over the holiday weekend.

Furiosa, while carrying fantastic reviews and part of a big franchise, is still an R-rated prequel to a movie that was released nearly a decade ago. Garfield is an animated adaptation of a beloved comic strip, but it carries poor reviews, just as every other Garfield movie has. It may be disappointing to see the Memorial Day box office down compared to other years, but it really should be expected, given the films that were released. 

Set more than a decade before the events of Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga explores how Furiosa was kidnapped from her home in the Green Place of Many Mothers by the treacherous Warlord Dementus and his Biker Horde. As Dementus and Immortan Joe vie for control of the wasteland, Furiosa must survive every challenge in front of her as she seeks vengeance against her kidnappers on her way to return home.

Mad Max creator George Miller returns to direct Furiosa, which stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Nathan Jones, Angus Sampson, and Quaden Bayles. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga releases in theaters on May 24th.