Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Haters Will be Seething After Anya Taylor-Joy Film Set One Historic Record for the Franchise that Even Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron Couldn’t
Warner Bros.’ Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is going off at the races and has beaten Sony’s The Garfield Movie at the box office. While the post-apocalyptic wasteland warrior-featuring movie still has a long way to go to win, this can be considered a win of sorts and might not be what some of the haters were expecting this movie to be.
The competition has been neck to neck for the two movies since they opened last weekend, but it is safe to say that the fifth entry in George Miller’s wasteland saga has now come out at the top. The numbers post the ticket sales over the weekend have been estimated, and Furiosa is leading the race so far.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Has a Win of Sorts Over The Garfield Movie
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is both a prequel and a spin-off of 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, which starred Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa and Tom Hardy as Max Rockatansky. The prequel explores the backstory of the titular character.
Alyla Browne and Anya Taylor-Joy play the younger versions of the character as the film explores her life from her kidnapping by the forces of warlord Dementus to her revenge on the warlord for the loss of her mother. While Chris Hemsworth, who is widely known for his role as the MCU superhero Thor, appears as the antagonist Dementus, Tom Burke and Charlee Fraser portray Praetorian Jack and Mary Jabassa (Furiosa’s mother), respectively.
Although the movie was not off to a great start with its opening day gross as low as $10.2 million, it was ahead of its biggest competitor The Garfield Movie, which had earned $8.4 million (via Variety). However, this gross is quite low as compared to its predecessor Fury Road, which had opened with $16 million.
That being said, Furiosa had a victory over Garfield (voiced by Chris Pratt) at the holiday box office. Fortune reported that according to the studio estimates on Monday, the former movie grossed an estimated $32 million in ticket sales over the four-day weekend (thanks to Memorial Day) and the latter was a little off the mark with $31.1 million. Consequently, Furiosa has taken the No.1 spot at the global box office.
Can Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Do Better than Mad Max: Fury Road at the Box Office?
Although Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has a good chance to ride on the stellar reputation of its predecessor, it is hard to tell if it can outdo its success. Considering how some of the character spin-offs like Pixar’s Lightyear and Disney’s Solo: A Star Wars Story performed at the box office, the chances of this movie doing well are not too high.
The film’s rough start with the low opening day gross against a production budget as high as $168 million is making its future look a little bleak. Critics and audiences might have embraced the movie, but the viewership does not seem to have expanded beyond its core fanbase of older male moviegoers.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is in theatres.