The numbers this week are not going to ease the mind of the sky-is-falling crowd when it comes to theaters and the box office. The weekend after Memorial Day tends to be one of big drops, normally stemming from high openings. Though last week’s highs were the lowest since 1984. Big drops from those openings and to still have them lead the way this week just does not look great at first glance, even if the right spin can point more in the direction of business-as-usual rather than “movies are dead.” It also does not help that the widest new release of the week was in less than 1,500 theaters and nothing was offered by any of the major studios.
King of the Crop: Garfield Outlasts Furiosa to Take No. 1
The Garfield Movie took the lead this week. That’s right. The PG-rated animated family comedy held just a wee bit better than the violent R-rated action spectacle that runs an hour longer. Not that the number — $14 million in its second weekend — is much to celebrate over a plate of lasagna. That’s not much better than Alice Through the Looking Glass, which dropped 57.9% down to $11.3 million in its second frame back in 2016. At $51.5 million, Garfield is just ahead of Alice’s 10-day pace of $51.3 million. Its drops will not be as bad going forward, so somewhere between $80-90 million feels like a reasonable estimate right now. Twenty years ago, Garfield: The Movie finished its run with $75.3 million and $203 million worldwide. In other words, The Garfield Movie is less a victim of theater-going habits and just another Garfield movie. With just a $60 million budget, though, and over $152 million worldwide, the film is already in profit for Sony.
The Top 10 and Beyond: Furiosa Isn’t Looking So Good, but Planet of the Apes Is
It is a little harder to spin the numbers on Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Last week, in light of everyone toeing the line of “why should we have expected the numbers to go up on a Mad Max film?” we showed you numbers answering precisely why: because they always have (with inflation). It also was a franchise coming off not just another (to quote Immortan Joe) “mediocre” entry but an all-timer for any genre. Granted, that was nine years ago, but stay tuned for those Apes numbers. Whatever the reason may be, general audiences haven’t shown up for Furiosa, but then, neither have the actual fans of the series, because it fell 59% down to $10.7 million. That’s right, lower than Alice Through the Looking Glass numbers, as stated above. Furiosa has only $49.7 million through 10 days, so expect it to land in the $70-80 million range. God bless whoever the fans are of the franchise at Warner Bros. that spent $168 million on Furiosa, but it may even struggle to make little more than that worldwide ($115 million to date), so any chance of recoupment is well down the fury road.
Remaining in third place with the best hold so far is John Krasinski’s IF. The Paramount release fell 35% to $10.5 million and now has a 17-day total of $80.1 million. The Angry Birds Movie had a $10.2 million post-Memorial Day weekend in its third frame and was about $7 million ahead of where IF is right now. That gives the imaginary friend film with Ryan Reynolds a line to get itself over $100 million domestic which is at least something to point at for the doomsayers. The $110 million budgeted film has grossed $138 million worldwide to date and is only about halfway to getting into the black.
That bring us to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which has become the “What about me?” story of the summer so far. Analysts have been ignoring its potential for weeks and even moreso amidst all the Furiosa talk about franchise fatigue. While its numbers are not as sexy as the $300+ million grossers we have normally had at this time, it is still by far the highest-grossing film of the summer and one of the top five grossers of the year. A fourth place finish of $8.9 million (a 34% drop) brings its 24-day total to $140.1 million. That is also the third-best total at this point for a release in May’s second week, behind only 2009’s Star Trek and 1996’s Twister. For weeks, we’ve been charting it with the path of John Wick: Chapter 4 and suggesting a final gross in the $170-175 million range. Somewhere closer to $165 million may be more realistic, which would be less than Rise, which kicked off this new generation of Apes. But by next weekend it will have passed War’s domestic gross of $146 million from seven years ago. Worldwide the film is over $337 million, the fourth film of the year to do so. Only five movies in 2023 opening before June had made as much.
Not falling out of the top five just yet is David Leitch’s The Fall Guy with $4.2 million. That gets the film just over $80 million after a month of release and nearly $158 million worldwide. How much more would the film really have made if it had not gone to PVOD so quickly? Hindsight is not going to help its bottom line. Sixth place went to Crunchyroll’s anime release, Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle, making $3.5 million in 1,119 theaters. This is their third release of the year after Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba – To the Hashira Training had a February opening of $11.5 million in 1,949 theaters and Spy x Family Code: White began in April with $4.8 million in 2,009 theaters. Neither of those films are currently available to stream.
Renny Harlin’s The Strangers: Chapter 1 finished in seventh place this weekend with $3.7 million. Its total stands at $28.4 million and is creeping up on Night Swim’s $32.4 million to become the highest-grossing horror film of the year. Last year, horror fans had M3GAN, Cocaine Bear, Scream VI, Evil Dead Rise, and Knock at the Cabin before the summer began, and all of them grossed higher than Night Swim and the rest of this year’s horror entries. A Quiet Place: Day One, Alien: Romulus, and Trap will likely surpass Night Swim’s numbers this summer, and we’ll see where Ti West’s MaXXXine and Ozgood Perkins’ Longlegs, as well as Cuckoo and They Listen, end up.
It is always a nice surprise when IFC Films gets a film into the box office conversation. Chris Nash’s In a Violent Nature has made headlines in recent weeks after leaked audio from its screening at the Chicago Critics Film Festival (which I am a producer of) got out. The audience reaction to the film’s gnarliest kill scene can be heard here. It seems that may have worked, as the film grossed $2.16 million from 1,426 theaters this weekend for IFC’s widest opening ever. This is also their third 1000+ venue release of 2024 after Arcadian with Nicolas Cage, which grossed just over $828,000, and Late Night with the Devil with David Dastmalchian, which became one of the highest-grossing films in the indie’s history with nearly $10 million. That film started with $2.8 million in 1,034 theaters. In a Violent Nature is already in the studio’s Top 25, and by next weekend, it could be in their top 10.
Even more extraordinary that In a Violent Nature beat out all of the other live-action wide releases this week. It took only $2.2 million to beat Tony Goldwyn’s Ezra from Bleecker Street, who have been unable to get a $4 million opening since Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky opened to $7.6 million in 2017. The kidnappy road trip drama made $1.24 million in 1,320 theaters. Then you had Summer Camp, from Roadside Attractions, which is actually their third-best opening since the pandemic at $1.06 million. It is their best opening since — wait for it — Family Camp, which opened to $1.39 million in 854 theaters back in 2022.
Angel Studios’ release of Sight made another million in its second weekend, bringing its total to $5.8 million. Neon expanded Pamela Adlon’s Babes into over 1,100 theaters and it grossed $910,000 for a total of $2.7 million to date. The studio’s Oscar-nominated animated film (a 2023 qualifier) Robot Dreams made $32,000 in two theaters. Viggo Mortensen’s second directorial effort, The Dead Don’t Hurt with Vicki Krieps, released by Shout! Studios, grossed $354,000. Chris Wilcha’s documentary Flipside, which recently won the Documentary Audience Award at the Chicago Critics Film Festival, made $13,000 in just a single venue this weekend. Oscilloscope will expand the film into other markets throughout June. And for those wondering about Young Woman and the Sea with Daisy Ridley, Disney has it in theaters and is playing it pretty close to the vest. The studio isn’t even reporting how many theaters it is in, but by all estimates, it grossed somewhere around half a million. It will be on Disney+ soon enough.
On the Vine: Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s Bad Boys Will Ride or Die
You can see the headlines next week, can’t you? “Will Smith Saves The Box Office!” That’s what you will read around town if Bad Boys: Ride or Die happens upon an opening higher than that of Bad Boys for Life’s $62.5 million. That was the last film to gross $200 million before the pandemic began in March 2020, and it was the highest-grossing of the series. Of course, that was before the Oscar slap heard round the world, and this is Smith’s first theatrical release since King Richard. Remember that as part of the ongoing discussion this summer of “how soon we forget.” Tracking estimates are now beginning to lowball it from initial $50+ million projections down to below $40 million. Ride or Die, indeed.
Full List of Box Office Results: May 31-June 2, 2024
36%
The Garfield Movie
(2024)
- $14 million ($51.5 million total)
90%
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
(2024)
- $10.7 million ($49.7 million total)
49%
IF
(2024)
- $10.5 million ($80.1 million total)
80%
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
(2024)
- $8.9 million ($140.1 million total)
81%
The Fall Guy
(2024)
- $4.2 million ($80.2 million total)
73%
HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle
(2024)
- $3.5 million ($3.5 million total)
22%
The Strangers: Chapter 1
(2024)
- $3.7 million ($28.4 million total)
86%
In A Violent Nature
(2024)
- $2.16 million ($2.16 million total)
65%
Ezra
(2023)
- $1.24 million ($1.24 million total)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast.
[box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
Thumbnail image by ©Columbia Pictures
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