The Box Office Just Had One Of Its Worst Weekends In 25 Years

Another weekend in the books, another reason to be pessimistic about the state of the box office in 2024. We are just coming off of the worst Memorial Day weekend in decades in terms of ticket sales, thanks to weak performances by both "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" and "The Garfield Movie." Now? With no meaningfully big movies entering the marketplace, theaters were left to suffer — so much so that this past weekend now ranks as literally one of the worst weekends the summer box office has experienced in a quarter century.

"The Garfield Movie" held far better than "Furiosa" in its second weekend, as the animated film topped the charts with a $14 million haul. That's good for Sony, but terrible for the industry at large. When we're in the midst of the summer moviegoing season and the number one movie on a given weekend pulls in $14 million, we're in trouble. Overall, domestic ticket sales totaled $60 million for the top ten finishers. It is the lowest overall domestic total for any weekend in May or June since the May 14, 1999 frame, which was the weekend before "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" opened. At that point, Universal's "The Mummy" was in its second weekend enjoying its last moments atop the box office before "Episode I" swallowed up all of the attention.

The most depressing part about that statistic is that we're not taking inflation into account. In today's dollars, the $59 million posted by the top ten that weekend in 1999 would be around $111 million. That still wouldn't be great, but it would be a hell of a lot better than what we're looking at right now. And we also don't have a movie as big as "The Phantom Menace" just around the corner. Are things going to improve when "Bad Boys: Ride or Die" opens? Sure. But, all due respect, "Bad Boys" isn't "Star Wars."

2024 always looked like it was going to be a down year for the industry. Last year's SAG and WGA strikes delayed some movies until much later this year, or well into 2025. It certainly doesn't help that theaters were still very much in recovery mode in the aftermath of the pandemic. Unfortunately, at just about every turn, things have gone from bad to worse. Movies like "Furiosa" and "The Fall Guy" have vastly underperformed, setting up a brutal summer at the box office. Successes such as "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes," which crossed the $300 million mark over the weekend, have been the exception this year, rather than the rule.

Truthfully, it's tough to expect a lot from a weekend where the biggest draws were a pair of holdovers that underperformed in the first place. Several new films did open, but they had limited appeal. Crunchyroll's anime "Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle" opened to $3.5 million on just over 1,100 screens, giving it a pretty good per-theater average north of $3,100. But the movie placed seventh on the charts, so it's small potatoes overall. IFC's unrated slasher "In a Violent Nature" also posted a solid opening, relatively speaking, pulling in $2.1 million on just over 1,400 screens. Again, not bad for IFC, but it's not going to do much for the bigger picture.

Bleecker Street's "Ezra" was far worse off and opened to just $1.1 million on more than 1,300 screens. Robert De Niro's good name couldn't help that one at all. Similarly, Roadside Attractions' "Summer Camp" barely cleared $1 million on more than 1,700 screens and failed to crack the top ten. These disappointments add up. It's what has led us to a place where ticket sales are lagging 24% behind this same point in 2023. And remember: Last year, we were lagging behind pre-pandemic ticket sales. $10 billion annually is beginning to feel like a distant pipe dream.

So, is there any hope on the horizon? Can the back half of 2024 offer greener pastures than the first half? While it is now assured that the industry at large has to accept another down year, there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic. July looks a heck of a lot better than June, with Marvel's "Deadpool & Wolverine" already setting box office records weeks before it even hits theaters. It's currently not out of the realm of possibility that the film will open to $200 million or more. That would be a most welcome surprise.

Aside from that, we've also got "Inside Out 2" coming on June 14, and Pixar's sequel is probably going to have the studio's biggest opening weekend since the pandemic began (even if it is sort of by default). There's also hope that "A Quiet Place: Day One" can keep the momentum going after the first two installments in that franchise did big numbers. Things should truly heat up over July 4 weekend when "Despicable Me 4" will likely become our first $100 million opener of the year. Currently, "Dune: Part Two" holds the year's biggest domestic opening with $82.5 million.

Even on a terrible weekend, some good news exists. John Krasinski's "IF" held extremely well in its third frame, dropping just 33% with a $10.8 million haul. It moved up to the number two spot, and if things continue to go well, this could pull an "Elemental" and leg out beyond expectations. That would be nice. We'll certainly need a lot more good news as the year rolls on to help make up for the first five months, which have been truly dismal.

I spoke about this on today's episode of the /Film Daily podcast, which you can listen to below:

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