The warm Cannes reception elicited a tearful reaction from Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga director and franchise mastermind George Miller, along with the prequel’s stars. However, despite receiving generally excellent audience and critical reviews, Furiosa has underachieved at the box office.
One of the reasons given for the prequel’s disappointing box-office performance is that audiences preferred to see a sequel to Mad Max: Fury Road instead of a prequel, while others believe that the now approximately 45-year-old and increasingly male-skewing Mad Max franchise has simply run its course.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Led Worst Memorial Day Weekend in Nearly 30 Years
In its opening weekend of release on the four-day Memorial Day box-office weekend, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which was projected to gross approximately $40 million domestically over the four-day frame, debuted with a three-day gross of approximately $25.5 million and a four-day total of $32.3 million.
In comparison, Mad Max: Fury Road, which opened one week prior to the Memorial Day weekend in 2015, grossed approximately $45.4 million in its opening weekend and then $31.2 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend. While Furiosa topped the Memorial Day weekend box office in its opening weekend of release, the $32.3 million figure represents the lowest opening for a Memorial Day weekend-leading film since 1995, when Casper topped the Memorial Day weekend box office with a four-day total of $22.1 million.
Unlike Fury Road, which remained in the Top 10 at the domestic box office for seven weekends, Furiosa isn’t showing signs of having similarly enduring strength at the box office. On Memorial Day, the Fury Road prequel finished third at the domestic box office, behind The Garfield Movie and IF.
In addition, the film led the weakest Memorial Day box-office weekend since 1995. For the 2024 four-day box-office weekend, all movies combined to gross just over $132.1 million, down over 35% from last year, when The Little Mermaid topped the weekend with a four-day gross of approximately $118.8 million.
The Garfield Movie Has Taken a Big Bite Out of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Furiosa: A Mad Saga opened alongside the animated comedy film The Garfield Movie, which was projected to gross approximately $30 million over the four-day frame. While The Garfield Movie exceeded this projection with a gross of over $31.2 million, the underperformance of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga made the race much closer than anyone expected.
Moreover, more people in North America have seen The Garfield Movie theatrically than have seen Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga due to the fact the average ticket price that people have paid to see The Garfield Movie is nearly $2 lower than the price of admission to see the R-rated Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Lacks Broad Audience Appeal
Although a female-led film, Furiosa has attracted fewer female viewers than Fury Road did in 2015. While the theatrical audience for Mad Max: Fury Road was approximately 60% male, the audience for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is presently a whopping 72% male. In terms of age, while the 18-to-34 demographic presently accounts for 55% of the audience for Furiosa, within the 18-to-24 demographic, this falls to 21%, compared to 31% for Mad Max: Fury Road. Over the Memorial Day weekend, less than 5% of the prequel’s audience was aged between 13 and 17, while adults over the age of 55 accounted for less than 10% of the film’s total audience.
These statistics reflect a fanboy-driven, niche-oriented franchise, in which the universally acclaimed Mad Max: Fury Road, which grossed over $380 million at the worldwide box office and won six Academy Awards, represents an outlier in the series. Moreover, while Fury Road is deservedly thought of as being a franchise renaissance masterpiece, the film, which had a combined marketing and production cost of over $200 million, nonetheless posted a theatrical loss.
The box-office failure of Furiosa, which carries a production cost of nearly $170 million, has fueled speculation that George Miller’s next planned Mad Max film, titled Mad Max: The Wasteland, is unlikely to happen, at least for the foreseeable future, unless Miller is willing to make a film within a much narrower budget and scale than what the visionary Miller and his followers are likely comfortable with. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is playing in theaters now.
News
Meghan Markle warning as insider reveals ‘gloves are off’ with rumours of next bombshell
The Sussexes were snubbed from an invite to Balmoral Castle, which may have been the last straw for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. The couple may have hit their last straw (Image: Getty) Meghan Markle has been open with struggles of mental…
Prince William and Harry’s feud continues leaving King Charles with a tough decision to make
It appears that Prince William and Harry are no closer to reconciling their bitter feud, despite their father, King Charles, holding onto hope. A well-known royal author has revealed that King Charles is “extremely sad” over the ongoing rift between his sons. As he continues cancer treatment, King Charles is more…
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal titles at risk as King convenes Balmoral summit
If Harry were to lose his Prince title that would mean Archie and Lilibet could also lose theirs, but they would be able to use the Dumbarton titles while their parents will be known simply as the Sussexes. Prince Harry and Meghan…
Ultra rare footage of King Charles’ Christening from 1948 showing four generations of the royal family is found at thrift shop for less than £7
A man has revealed how he discovered ultra rare footage of King Charles‘ Christening in a thrift shop – for less than £7. Ronald Baxter Jr, 59, from Charleston, South Carolina, has been collecting since he was 10 years old and…
Kate Middleton ‘made phone call’ to Meghan at King’s request to ‘clear the air’ after Royal racism claims
Kate Middleton contacted Meghan Markle to address racism allegations after Omid Scobie’s book, claims insider. Kate Middleton reportedly contacted Meghan Markle following the explosive allegations of racism levelled against the royal family including her. The Duchess of Sussex had claimed that…
Prince William Just Sported a New Look That Was Previously Discouraged — and Sparked Tension with Prince Harry
The Prince of Wales, who appeared in a new video with Princess Kate, hasn’t been seen with facial hair since 2008 Prince William is experimenting with a new look this summer, one that has been at the center of a hairy…
End of content
No more pages to load