Furiosa Is a Flop in a $65 Million Summer Box Office Weekend

Lots of ways to describe how bad it is for theaters. Here’s one: A year ago, the #2 film “The Little Mermaid” grossed $41.4 million; this weekend, the top four films grossed $44.4 million combined.

“The Garfield Movie” (Sony) took over #1 with $14 million and a 10-day total about $2 million better than last week’s #1, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.” (Warner Bros.). George Miller’s $160 million-budget prequel dropped 59 percent from a disappointing start and is in a tight battle for #2 with “IF” (Paramount). The family fantasy with Ryan Reynolds tentatively stands at $50,000 ahead; to its credit, WB wasn’t aggressive in its estimate. (Tomorrow will tell the actual result).

The good news is we have touched bottom for the summer and it will get better from here. Both “Garfield” and “IF” had strong holds: “Garfield” dropped 41 percent in its second weekend after a holiday Sunday and “IF” dropped 33 percent and now is at $80 million It still has a shot at a respectable performance against its $110 million budget. Worldwide, “IF” is at $138 million.

This is encouraging because the upcoming “Inside Out 2” (Disney) and “Despicable Me 4” (Universal), also family-oriented titles, are earmarked to reach a $300 million domestic total. Family films appear to be the only titles that reach or exceed expectations.

“Furiosa,” now at $114 million worldwide, is confirmed as a major disappointment. “Fury Road” grossed…