“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” stalled at the international box office with $33.3 million from 75 territories. The fifth entry in director George Miller’s post-apocalyptic series earned $58.9 million worldwide in its opening weekend.
Domestically, the Warner Bros. prequel “Furiosa” tied for the top box office spot with Sony’s animated “The Garfield Movie,” each taking in about $25 million over the weekend and $31 million through Memorial Day Monday. No. No matter what comes of 1, it’s one of the worst Memorial Day holiday weekends in decades.
“Furiosa,” at this rate, will struggle to live up to its predecessor, 2015’s “Max Max: Fury Road.” The film, starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, took in a similarly big budget of $380 million. The R-rated prequel, which spotlights Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, was widely accepted by critics and audiences, but did not garner the same level of acclaim as “Fury Road.” managed to break beyond the core fan base of older male moviegoers.
Outside the U.S. and Canada, “Furiosa” opened strongly in Korea with $4.5 million, followed by France with $2.6 million, the United Kingdom with $2.5 million, Mexico with $2.4 million and Australia with $2.2 million. Imax screens grossed $9.5 million in worldwide box office sales, including $4.7 million from international markets.
Since “The Garfield Movie” began its international release weeks ago, it’s moving forward with $91.1 million in worldwide ticket sales. “Garfield,” in which Chris Pratt voices the famous orange cat who hates Mondays, cost less than “Furizoa,” at $60 million. It took in $14 million from 51 foreign markets and finished third on the international weekend chart. “The Garfield Movie” has yet to be released in several major markets, including Japan, France and Australia. So far, the biggest markets are Mexico with $17.4 million and Germany with $5.2 million.
Disney and 20th Century’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” was second in the foreign charts with $20.6 million from 52 markets. With $17.1 million in North America over the four-day weekend, the fourth installment of the “Apes” reboot franchise has earned $172 million internationally and $294.8 million worldwide to date. Those ticket sales are good enough to rank as the fourth highest-grossing movie of the year. Still, the $160 million budgeted “Kingdom” needs more momentum to match the global totals of its predecessors “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” ($481 million) and “War for the Apes” ($490 million). and “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” (a series-best $710 million).
Paramount’s “IF,” a fantasy-comedy directed by John Krasinski and starring Ryan Reynolds, ranks fourth internationally with $11.3 million from 64 territories. The kid-friendly film added about $21 million domestically over the four-day holiday weekend, bringing “IF’s” total to $103.6 million worldwide. The film cost $110 million to make and several million more to market, so it’s counting on staying power through the summer to justify its budget.
