Garfuriosa was no Barbenheimer for the US box office

5/29/24 12:20PM

Garfuriosa

Hollywood had an unremarkable Memorial Day Weekend this year, as the American box office notched an estimated $132M from Friday through Monday — the lowest total gross (excluding the pandemic era) in 26 years, according to data from Box Office Mojo.

Both Furiosa, the 5th installment in the popular Mad Max franchise, and The Garfield Movie, the 6th film in the Garfield cinematic universe, struggled over the long weekend, which is typically a heavy hitter in the box office calendar. Indeed, despite favorable reviews, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga took just $32M over the 4-day period, the lowest gross for a Memorial Day #1 debut since Casper in 1995 (not adjusted for inflation).

Flop era

Hollywood’s holiday disappointment is very much in keeping with what’s been a seriously slow start to 2024 at the US box office, with hopes now pinned to Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine — which is still 2 months out — to save ailing ticket sales and turn the year around following a string of “megaflops”.

Last year, takings across the 4-day period sat at a comparatively gargantuan $204M, while 2022’s was even more impressive at $223M, in no small part thanks to the sensation that was Top Gun: Maverick. The truth, which is hard for cinema-lovers everywhere to reconcile with, is that the box office is just not what it once was, and shows few signs of getting back to its glory days. What’s to blame? Streaming, “sequelitis”, the pandemic, the size of your TV at home... maybe even all of the above.

Millie Giles4/15/26

The most popular male and female names in the US, according to the latest Census

New data published Tuesday by the US Census Bureau has revealed the most common names provided in the 2020 Census, in the first release to include forename data since 1990.

As described in the brief, Michael was the most popular name for males in the US, with roughly 3.5 million American men reporting having this name or a close variant. This is up from fourth place in the 1990 Census, when the top US male name was James — though there were still 3 million Jameses in 2020’s tally.

Despite a three-decade gap, Mary remained the top name for American females in both censuses, with the 2020 survey counting almost 1.8 million females with this given name. Interestingly, Mary was one of just two predominantly female names that broke the top 10 given names in the US, with the overall list dominated mostly by male monikers.

Most popular names US census 2020 chart — Sherwood News

In all, American females had far more first-name diversity than male counterparts: 16% of US males had one of the top 10 most frequent names among men, compared with 7.8% of women. Zooming out, almost 3x as many given names were needed to cover a quarter of the US female population than that of males.

Max Knoblauch & Tom Jones4/14/26

6 months after hiking Game Pass prices by 50%, Xbox determines it may be too expensive

Microsoft’s new Xbox chief, Asha Sharma, thinks the division’s recent price hikes have been a mistake, per an internal memo to employees seen by The Verge.

“Short term, Game Pass has become too expensive for players, so we need a better value equation,” Sharma’s memo reportedly read.

It’s an interesting take, given that Xbox hiked the price of its Game Pass subscription by 50% in October, before Sharma took over. The memo is a signal that Sharma’s tenure — which began in February, taking the industry by surprise — will include some big changes for Microsoft’s gaming strategy.

Whether Game Pass prices will drop is not yet clear. Last month, The Information reported that Sharma and Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters have “kicked around ideas” about potential bundles. That would fit with Netflix’s renewed gaming ambitions.

Xbox Game Pass ‘has become too expensive,’ says Microsoft’s new gaming chief in leaked memo

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LIFELINE

4/14/26

Will a resolve to reduce screen time see a revival of landline telephones?

For parents trying to limit their kids’ exposure to smartphones, the answer could be yesterday’s tech.

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IN THE GREEN

4/13/26

Rory McIlroy just secured a second consecutive Masters title — and the biggest prize pot to date

Winning a sixth major title in the year of a record purse, McIlroy is now the Masters’ highest-earning golfer.

Max Knoblauch4/13/26

Roblox announces age-based accounts for young users as child safety lawsuits pile up

Roblox on Monday announced its first accounts created specifically for young children and teens, furthering its efforts to increase child safety on the platform.

In June, Roblox Kids (for ages 5 to 8) and Roblox Select (for ages 9 to 15) will roll out, following the company’s global launch of mandatory age checks in January.

The new account types will feature different default settings — chats will automatically be set to “off” on Kids accounts — and limit access to games of certain ratings depending on age.

Child safety lawsuits and social media bans are piling up for Roblox, whose shares have dropped more than 30% year to date. In February, Los Angeles County sued the platform, alleging it created a “largely unsupervised online world” in which “child predators can readily locate, contact, and interact with minors.”

Roblox Introduces New Age-Based Accounts and Expanded Parental Controls for Users Under 16

Roblox gaming platform says it is ready to make changes to get Russian ban lifted