Furiosa sees worst Memorial Day opening in 30 years

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is off to a disappointing start at the US box office, bringing in $32m (£25m) over the long Memorial Day weekend.

Its takings make it the lowest box office figures for the holiday weekend since Casper debuted to $22.5m (£17.6m) in 1995.

Furiosa only narrowly beat its closest competitor, The Garfield Movie, which made $31.1m (£24.3m).

The figures for the 2024 weekend were significantly down from 2023, when Disney’s The Little Mermaid brought in $118m (£92.4m).

The fifth film in the Mad Max series is a prequel, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth.

It tells the origin story of Imperator Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron in 2015’s Oscar-winning Mad Max: Fury Road.

The dystopian action films, created by George Miller, are set in the barren Australian outback, exploring the breakdown of society after an apocalypse.

It also stars Tom Burke and Alyla Browne and is set about 20 years before Fury Road, and fans see Furiosa go from early childhood to becoming a warrior.

The film, which cost $168m (£131m) to produce, was projected to make around $40m (£31m) over the four-day weekend in the US.

At the international box office, Furiosa brought in $33.3m (£26m) from 75 territories over the weekend, bringing its worldwide total to $58.9m (£46.1m)

The franchise’s previous 2015 film, Mad Max: Fury Road starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron earned $65m (£51m) when it opened.

Premiering out of competition at Cannes, Furiosa received a six-minute standing ovation but it has received mixed reviews from critics with comments varying from “soul-pricklingly primal” to “all spectacle and no vision”.

Other recent films that have fallen short at the box office include action comedy The Fall Guy which underperformed on its opening weekend.

Starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, the film was expected to make $40m, but instead bought in just under $28m (£21.9m).

John Krasinski’s animated family film IF and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes have also had weaker than expected opening weekends.