Sawt Falasteen - 'Garfield' tops N. American box office, 'Furiosa' fades

"Garfield" and "Furiosa" had battled for the top spot during the long Memorial Day weekend, and ultimately, the "Mad Max" prequel starring Anya Taylor-Joy prevailed.

But this week, Sony's animated reboot about the lazy cat who loves lasagna, starring Chris Pratt ("Guardians of the Galaxy") as the orange feline, was expected to win with $14 million in ticket sales, Exhibitor Relations said.

Bouncing back up to second place was Paramount's animated "If," which stars Cailey Fleming as a young girl who, along with neighbor Ryan Reynolds, embarks on an adventure to reconnect forgotten made-up playmates with their children.

"If" took in $10.8 million, just ahead of Warner Bros' "Furiosa" -- the fifth installment in Australian director George Miller's "Mad Max" post-apocalyptic action series -- at $10.75 million.

Fourth place again went to 20th Century action sci-fi "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes," at $8.8 million, and in fifth was Universal's action-comedy "The Fall Guy," starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, with $4.2 million.

Overall, the May domestic box office was down 43.3 percent as compared with the pre-pandemic average for the month in 2017-2019, according to industry analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

"The Strangers: Chapter 1" ($3.6 million)

"Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle" ($3.5 million)

"In a Violent Nature" ($2.1 million)

"Ezra" ($1.2 million)

"Summer Camp" ($1.1 million)

F.Qawasmeh--SF-PST