Ignoring when the whole theater landscape was shut down for COVID, this Memorial weekend is looking like the worst for box office in 30 years. Ticket sales are 22% down on last year. 41% down on the last pre-COVID year of 2019.
Taking the hit is Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. It topped the box office, just, from The Garfield Movie but it only took $26.2 million over the three days, and the total for the four days was edging to about $32 million.
Garfield was close behind at $24 million / $31.1 million.
This is bad news for Furiosa, as it is not looking like overseas will save it. It pulled in just another $33 million worldwide.
Remember, Fury Road was also considered a financial flop, even as it became a critical darling. Does this mean we can put Mad Max in the same box as Blade Runner – for movies that we all geek out over but the wider cinema-going audience simply doesn’t give a shit about?
Or does this show that the post-COVID chickens are coming home to roost and the cinema in general is in deep, deep trouble?
Deadline did some number crunching and seemed to confirm that Mad Max is something of a “specialist” property, with an R-rating and high appeal only for males of a certain age. Their report says teenagers, over 55s and women simply did not go and see the movie. Only 2% of the audience were teenagers.
This proves what we have always said about kids of today.
Elsewhere, IF snared $21 million for the four-day weekend, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes scored $17.2 million, and The Fall Guy grabbed $7.7 million.
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