It might be summer, but it sure doesn’t feel like it.
Our number one movie–for real this time–is The Garfield Movie. Last week, WB’s stubbornness when it came to releasing their holiday estimates resulted in Sony proclaiming a premature victory with Garfield (and can you really blame them?), but once actuals came in, Furiosa barely edged past it. No such battle is taking place this weekend, as the fat cat is easily leading the pack with $14 million, bringing its tabby total to $51 million. Worldwide, The Garfield Movie has amassed $151 million against a $60 million budget, meaning it has already beaten the final tally for his last big screen outing, 2006’s A Tail of Two Kitties.
As for Furiosa, well…just how many “it ran out of gas” jokes am I supposed to do here? As things currently stand, the Fury Road prequel is in third place, with IF squeaking ahead of it. Granted, that could change tomorrow once actuals come in, but let’s not try to kid ourselves: Furiosa is the summer’s biggest flop so far. It has only made $49 million and is showing no signs of staying power. I’ve seen some people try to defend the numbers, claiming last year’s Elemental had a similar opening before legging it out to $150 million. The problem with that comparison is Elemental was a Pixar movie, was easily accessible, had terrific word-of-mouth, and opened in mid-June. Furiosa is an R-rated and very weird actioner, has something resembling a niche audience, and was mishandled by Warner Bros., who should have known better than to try to set it off during the Memorial Day weekend.
Moving on to our big new releases…oh wait, there are no big new releases. The best we have to talk about is Haikyu! The Dumpster Battle, the Anime outing about…volleyball? It made $3.5 million. Far more impressive is In a Violent Nature, the slow-paced serial killer flick which earned $2 million, which is a lot for something like this. Audiences aren’t crazy about it (go figure this is a slasher film that critics like), but the kills are brutal enough to be a big selling point with horror fans. And speaking of brutal, Summer Camp–the exhilarating adrenaline rush about a group of old ladies who go back to summer camp, because shenanigans–made a terrible $1 million, which was still good enough for tenth place. Exactly how many times is Diane Keaton going to insist on embarrassing herself? I’m actually asking. Also, something called Ezra opened. It didn’t do much better than Summer Camp, taking in just $1.1 million. Thank God Bad Boys and The Watchers are coming out next week!
Anyway, the top ten, via Deadline
1.)Garfield The Movie (Alcon/Sony) 4,108 (+73) theaters, Fri $3.7M Sat $5.8M Sun $4.4M 3-day $14M (-42%) Total $51.5M /Wk 2
2.) If (Par) 3,783 (-285) theaters Fri $2.9M, Sat $4.3M Sun $3.5M 3-day $10.8M (-33%), Total $80.4M/Wk 3
3.) Furiosa (WB) 3,864 (+60) theaters, Fri $3M, Sat $4.4M Sun $3.3M 3-day $10.75M (-59%) Total, $49.7M/Wk 2
4.) Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (20th/Dis) 3,450 (-100) theaters, Fri $2.4M Sat $3.7M Sun $2.7M 3-day $8.8M (-34%), 4-day $15.9M, Total $139.9M/Wk 4
5.) Fall Guy (Uni) 2,826 (-129) theaters, Fri $1.22M Sat $1.75M Sun $1.23M, 3-day $4.2M (-30%), Total $80.2M/Wk 5
6.) Strangers -Chapter 1 (LG) 2,527 (-329) theaters, Fri $1.1M Sat $1.4M Sun $1M 3-day $3.6M (-35%) Total $28.3M/Wk 3
7.) Haikyu! The Dumpster Battle (Cru/Sony) 1,119 theaters, Fri $1.9M, Sat $950K Sun $635K, 3-day $3.5M/Wk 1
8.) In a Violent Nature (IFC) 1,426 theaters Fri $1M Sat $645K Sun $450K 3-day $2.1M/Wk 1
9.) Ezra (BST) 1,320 theaters, Fri $572K Sat $371K Sun $241K 3-day $1.1M /Wk 1
10.) Summer Camp (RSA) 1787 theaters, Fri $390K Sat $396K Sun $277K 3-day $1.06M/Wk 1