By J. Kim Murphy

(According To The Variety) If the summer box office is ever going to heat up, it’ll have to wait a while longer. In a weekend being led by holdovers, Sony’s “The Garfield Movie” looks to overtake “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” for first place on domestic charts.

The marketplace continues to be dire overall, but Sony is doing well for itself. The studio is also putting out the manga adaptation “Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle” through its anime banner Crunchyroll. Playing in 1,086 locations (including showtimes in a few Imax auditoriums), the high school sports film earned $1.9 million across Friday and preview screenings and looks to take sixth place on domestic charts. It’s just the latest example of how anime has found a niche but dedicated theatrical audience in North America. Not that stateside will make or break “Haikyu!!,” which released in its native Japan back in February and stands as the second-highest grossing release of 2024 so far in the country.

Meanwhile, “The Garfield Movie” scratched up another $3.7 million on Friday. The DNEG-animated feature, which stars Chris Pratt, is projecting $13 million in its sophomore outing. “Garfield” has now inched past $40 million in North America and the Alcon-financed feature won’t see a competing animated release until “Inside Out 2” in mid-June. Though hardly a break-out smash, the comic strip kittie is getting along well enough considering his film’s $60 million production budget and overseas grosses.

Further down, Warner Bros.’ “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” took in $3 million on Friday. Competitors are projecting a drop of around 59% for the dystopian epic’s sophomore outing — not all too bad, but far from the dramatic recovery that it needed to gas up its box office prospects. With a $168 million production budget to account for, plus marketing and distribution costs, the well-reviewed revenge prequel has little hope of becoming profitable in theaters. Its 2015 predecessor “Mad Max: Fury Road,” already considered only a modest box office winner at the time, had earned $63 million through its first seven days in North America. “Furiosa” ended its first week way behind at $38.9 million.

Paramount’s “IF” has a shot at second place, projecting $11 million for its third weekend and marking another strong hold for the family film (a 32% drop) after an underwhelming opening. It looks to push past $80 million domestic through Monday. The production budget of $110 million remains a substantial financial burden, but the John Krasinski-directed feature has managed to keep a foothold in theaters.

Fourth place will likely go to 20th Century Studios’ “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” which earned $2.4 million on Friday. Disney’s sci-fi franchise revival has now surpassed $130 million in North America. Now the fourth-highest grossing domestic release of the year, it’s also pacing ahead of its 2017 predecessor “War for the Planet of the Apes,” which had earned $124 million in its first 21 days and finished with $146 million.

“The Fall Guy” is expected to round out the top five after earning $1.1 million on Friday. Universal’s action-comedy, starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, should surpass $80 million in North America over the weekend.

Also opening, IFC Films and Shudder are putting out the Canadian slasher “In a Violent Nature” in more than 1,426 locations, marking the widest release ever for IFC. Competitors are projecting a solid opening of $2.2 million for the well-reviewed low-budget horror feature.

Disney also has the drama “Young Woman and the Sea” in limited release. The period sports feature, which stars Daisy Ridley as Trudy Ederle, the first woman to ever swim English Channel, was originally commissioned for Disney+ but shifted to theatrical after testing highly. However, Disney isn’t reporting grosses. Roadside Attractions is debuting “Summer Camp,” starring Diane Keaton, Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard, in 1,787 locations. Reviews are terrible and the Cinema Score grade of “C” shows early moviegoers aren’t fans either. It’s expected to earn in the low-single digits, as is fellow new release “Ezra,” Bleecker Street’s feel-good drama about a comedian raising his autistic son. That’s playing in 1,320 venues