Box Office: The Garfield Movie Eats The Fall Guy’s Lunch

Garfield’s box office performance is anything but lazy. Sony’s CG-animated The Garfield Movie — which doesn’t hit U.S. screens until May 24 — is feline fine overseas, where it added another $11.8 million over the weekend to bring its hefty haul to $36 million from 22 markets, per Exhibitor Relations.Starring Chris Pratt (The Super Mario Bros. Movie) as the voice of the lazy, lasagna-loving fat cat, Garfield topped The Fall Guy at No. 1 in New Zealand and the Netherlands; in Italy and Spain, it was another talking animals movie, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, that took the top spot as part of its global reign with $130 million worldwide.

In North America, Garfield grossed the most in Mexico — where it’s titled Garfield: Fuera de Casa / Garfield: Away From Home — with $12.5 million; overseas, Garfield beat Apes to No. 1 in Austria and Germany ($2.1m).

The road trip buddy comedy is expected to open with $35 million when it rolls out of bed and into U.S. theaters over the three-day Memorial Day weekend. According to projections, Fury Road prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will reign at No. 1 with a U.S. start between $40m-$50m.

The Fall Guy, Universal’s romantic action-comedy starring last summer’s Barbenheimer duo of Ryan Gosling (Barbie) and Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer), failed to stick the landing when it opened with just $27.7 million last week. It added another $13.7 million in its second weekend, falling to No. 2 behind Apes; as of Sunday, Fall Guy’s current worldwide total is $103.7 million.

The Garfield Movie is the character’s first theatrical film since 2006’s Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, the half-animated, half-live-action comedy that featured Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield. The new movie from Columbia Pictures and Alcon Entertainment follows indoor cat Garfield (Pratt) on a wild outdoor adventure after an unexpected reunion with his long-lost father — scruffy streetcat Vic (Samuel L. Jackson) – that sends Garfield and dim-witted dog Odie (Harvey Guillèn) on a hilarious, high-stakes heist. 

Hannah Waddingham (The Fall Guy), Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible), Cecily Strong (Saturday Night Live), Brett Goldstein (Ted Lasso), Bown Yang (SNL), Janelle James (Abbott Elementary), Snoop Dogg (The Underdoggs) and Nicholas Hoult (Superman) also loan their voices. Early access shows (in select locations) are May 19 before The Garfield Movie opens May 24 only in theaters.