Warner Bros. and Sony executives had a rough Memorial Day weekend in 2024, experiencing historically low box office returns, and many are pointing the finger at Marvel for the downturn.<\/p>\n
Two major releases, \u201cFuriosa\u201d \u2014 the highly anticipated prequel to 2015\u2019s blockbuster \u201cMad Max: Fury Road\u201d \u2014 and \u201cThe Garfield Movie,\u201d featuring Chris Pratt, premiered ahead of Memorial Day on Monday, May 27. Both films had high expectations, with Warner Bros. banking on \u201cFuriosa\u201d and Sony hoping \u201cGarfield\u201d would follow the success of 2023\u2019s \u201cThe Super Mario Bros. Movie.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, neither film managed to meet expectations, collectively failing to earn $100 million. \u201cFuriosa\u201d opened with a disappointing $32 million, significantly less than \u201cFury Road\u2019s\u201d $45 million debut, which didn\u2019t benefit from a holiday weekend. Similarly, \u201cGarfield\u201d garnered just $31.1 million, falling short of replicating the success of the \u201cSuper Mario Bros. Movie.\u201d<\/p>\n
This dual disappointment led to the lowest-grossing Memorial Day weekend since 1995, not counting 2020 when theaters were closed due to the pandemic. While some might blame the individual films, many see the real issue as the absence of a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film to kick off the summer season.<\/p>\n
For the first time since 2009, the MCU did not release a movie in May, traditionally a prime spot for the franchise to launch its summer blockbusters. The ongoing impact of the 2023 strikes delayed many of Marvel\u2019s projects, leaving 2024 with only one Marvel release, July\u2019s \u201cDeadpool & Wolverine.\u201d Historically, Marvel\u2019s May releases have driven significant box office revenue, with 2022\u2019s \u201cDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness\u201d earning $955 million and 2023\u2019s \u201cGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3\u201d bringing in $845 million.<\/p>\n
Despite recent fluctuations in Marvel\u2019s box office dominance, the franchise\u2019s May releases have consistently performed well. With \u201cThunderbolts\u201d slated for release on May 5, 2025, the hope is that next year will see a return to form, avoiding a repeat of this Memorial Day\u2019s box office slump. While the MCU may no longer singularly carry the film industry as it did in the 2010s, it remains a crucial component in driving overall cinema attendance and revenue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Warner Bros. and Sony executives had a rough Memorial Day weekend in 2024, experiencing historically low box office returns, and\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":46957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[462],"class_list":["post-46956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-mcu"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}