Ready, steady, go! The Memorial Day Weekend box office is off to the races as George Miller’s highly-anticipated Mad Max prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, barrels into cinemas. The visually splendiferous, high-octane action showcase hit the post-apocalyptic road with $3.5M in Thursday previews, adding a shot of nitrous to what is sure to be an exciting weekend at the movies.

The other big release of the holiday weekend, The Garfield Movie, gobbled up $1.9M in previews, coming in slightly higher than the Ryan Reynolds-led live-action comedy IF ($1.7M). While Reynolds is typically a more attractive draw than the sardonic orange tabby Persian cat, the fully-animated presentation of The Garfield Movie could be more appealing to families looking to stay cool during the steamy afternoon hours.

For comparison’s sake, 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road hit the wasteland with $3.7M in May 2015, opening in second place with a $45.4M debut. While Furiosa’s opening is slightly lower than Fury Road, it’s early in the box office race. Reviews for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga are glowingly positive, with JoBlo’s Chris Bumbray giving the film an impressive 9/10 score in his review. In his write-up, Chris says Furiosa is a terrific addition to the franchise in that it’s the perfect midway point between The Road Warrior and Fury Road.

Chris also says, “The action and pace of Furiosa are different than Fury Road, as this isn’t a chase film, but there’s one major action sequence involving Jack and Furiosa on the War Rig that goes toe-to-toe with anything in the other movies. Miller also shoots the film in a way that emphasizes visual storytelling, helped by how expressive Taylor-Joy is, with a lot going on behind those eyes at all times, making her an ideal lead for this kind of movie-making.”

Directed by George Miller from a screenplay he wrote with Nico Lathouris, Furiosa has the following synopsis: 

“As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland, they come across the Citadel presided over by the Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants are in a war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.“

Do you plan to see Furiosa this Memorial Day Weekend? Let us know in the comments section below.

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