Bill GoodykoontzArizona Republic
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When I saw “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” it was in a theater with a booming sound system.
As I said in my review of the film, that’s the best way to see it. You can feel that movie in a theater the way you can’t anywhere else unless you were starring in it. It has horsepower to spare. The gonzo visuals are also impossible to replicate at home. (Unless you have a private theater-quality system, in which case, might I interest you in a newspaper subscription? Several, maybe?) “Furiosa” is, in short, a really good time at the movies.
Too bad more people didn’t find out.
Why did 'Furiosa' tank?
The movie, a prequel to “Mad Max: Fury Road,” made only $32 million over Memorial Day weekend. This is the lowest-earning No. 1 movie over Memorial Day since “Casper” opened with $22 million in 1995. Remember that movie? Yeah, me neither. There’s a reason. (Those results do not include 2020, when most theaters were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.)
Remember how “The Fall Guy” was going to be a big hit to usher in the summer movie season? Good movie! Ryan Gosling! Emily Blunt! Amazing stunts!
It didn’t happen.
Let’s be clear about this: Most of the time a movie’s performance at the box office is of no interest to me. The same goes for a TV show’s ratings or streaming numbers. Popularity is no guarantee or even predictor of quality. “You’re Having My Baby” was a No. 1 single for Paul Anka. Have you ever heard “Having My Baby?” It’s torturous. I rest my case.
Box office usually doesn't matter. This time, it does
In this rare instance, however, box office matters, at least in terms of the bigger picture. Frankly, as much as I liked it, I don’t care if “Furiosa” flops. I don’t care how many Oscar nominations it gets. I don’t care how many social-media impressions it inspires. None of that makes it a better movie, or a worse one.
What big box-office flops do right now, however, is endanger the whole theatrical experience. And that’s a serious problem.
The reasons are often repeated. During the pandemic, people got used to watching movies at home. Plus, the supply chain (to use an overused term from the time) was interrupted. It wasn’t just that we couldn’t go to movies. Filmmakers and actors couldn’t make them, either.
I’ll be honest, I got pretty comfortable screening films at home. But I am, in the words of the great New York Times TV critic James Poniewozik, screen agnostic, no doubt because I put such a high value on story. I see more movies than most people, so the chance not to have to schlep to the theater and back a few times a week was not unwelcome.
But when things started to settle down a bit and in-person screenings became more frequent, I found myself sitting in my seat as the lights went down, waiting for the film to start and thinking how utterly cool it is to be in a theater watching a movie. There is just nothing like it. You don’t miss it till it’s gone, so they say, and I think in the case of movies, that’s really true.
And when I settle in for a movie like “Furiosa,” I am reminded, dang, this is how movies are meant to be seen.
Can 'Deadpool & Wolverine' get people back in theaters?
There are other reasons for the decline in box-office numbers — no big Marvel or Disney movie to open the summer season, for one. And the dueling strikes by actors and writers shut down production, delaying potential big hits, sometimes for years.
I know what you’re thinking. None of this is my fault. I didn’t go on strike. No one could have predicted the pandemic. It’s not my job to make people go to theaters.
That’s all true. But it doesn’t let you off the hook, either. The theatrical experience is a communal one — one that can’t be replicated alone. There is something magical about being together and laughing and screaming and crying. It’s secular church, at least for people who think of movies as a kind of secular religion.
Maybe this will all change as we slowly crawl back to normal. Maybe “Deadpool & Wolverine” (out July 26) will be this summer’s “Barbie.” That would be great.
But if we don’t head back to theaters, it’s not going to happen.So buy a ticket. Get some popcorn. The theatrical experience is too precious to lose.
Reach Goodykoontz atbill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook:facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. X:@goodyk. Subscribe tothe weekly movies newsletter.
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