The Mad Max franchise saw the release of its first spin-off film – Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. The movie acts as a long-anticipated successor to 2014’s reboot, Mad Max: Fury Road, albeit in the form of a prequel. However, it doesn’t look like it’s receiving the same financial success. While Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has won the domestic weekend box office, it also received the worst Memorial Day opening in 30 years.
As shared via IGN, the film only earned $32.0 million during the 4-day holiday weekend. During the first three days of its release, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga only earned $26.3 million. As for its global total, however, it made about $65.3 million. The outlet notes that with the film’s budget being $161 million before even factoring in marketing costs, it will take quite a bit for the studio to break even.
Of course, plenty has changed in the world of theatrical releases in recent years. In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of streaming, and other such issues, it’s been a rather unpredictable arena for new movies of all kinds. It appears that Furiosa is one such film, having received the lowest Memorial Day weekend gross since the release of 1995’s Casper which only earned $22.0 million.
The previous film in the Mad Max franchise, Mad Max: Fury Road, managed to earn $45.4 million during its domestic opening weekend. It’s worth noting that this wasn’t a Memorial Day weekend, and the film ultimately went on to gross $379.4 million worldwide. It was a massive success for the Mad Max franchise, especially when considering it’d been decades since the release of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome at that point.
It’s unclear what this means for the future of Furiosa or the rest of the Mad Max brand. Many fans wanted a return from Tom Hardy‘s version of Max, and depending on the success or failure of this latest venture, it could mean the franchise ends here. Ultimately, we’ll just have to see what happens.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates regarding the performance of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and any other Mad Max updates as we have them. It’s certainly unfortunate that Furiosa isn’t receiving the box office success of its predecessor, but in time perhaps it will still win over a decent audience.