Audiences weren’t frosty to Ghostbusters: Frozen Kingdom as the sequel racked up $45.2 million over its opening weekend. The previous entry in this franchise, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, premiered with $44M domestically on its way to racking up $204.3M globally in 2021. Keep in mind that 2021 was right smack in the middle of the COVID pandemic, so that’s pretty decent. Apparently, it did so well on digital that Sony ordered this follow-up.
Frozen Kingdom‘s Rotten Tomatoes critical score is weak at 43% but its audience score is much higher at 85%. In comparison, Afterlife had a better 62% RT score (still not great) and a 96% audience score. Exiting audiences gave Frozen Kingdom a B+ CinemaScore, down just slightly from Afterlife‘s A-. Via PostTrak, Frozen Kingdom got an 80% positive.
While Jason Reitman co-wrote and co-produced this installment, he did not return to direct, instead handing the reigns over to Gil Kenan. The casts from both the original film franchise and Afterlife reunited for this sequel.
This weekend’s performance managed to drive the Ghostbusters franchise north of $1 billion, but the tepid reaction to Frozen Kingdom may result in it not legging out over the ensuing weeks.
Interestingly, Frozen Kingdom is playing as a family movie with most tickets being sold for pre-5:00 pm showings. This appears to have taken a bite out of the performance of Kung Fu Panda 4 which slipped to #3, falling behind Dune Part Two. However, worldwide, Kung Fu Panda 4 has crossed the $300M mark with an additional $16.8M coming from this weekend’s domestic gross.
As for Dune Part Two, that epic earned another $17.6M, bringing its domestic total to $233.3M. It landed at #2.
Sydney Sweeney might have scored a fluke hit with Anyone But You, or maybe her niche is just romantic comedy. But she has followed that up with the disaster that was Madame Web and now she has another dud on her resumé — Immaculate, a low-budget horror movie which opened with just $5M and has gotten poor reactions.
It has a C CinemaScore from exiting audiences and its PostTrak score is only 52% positive. Its Rotten Tomatoes audience score is only slightly higher at 57%. Critics are surprisingly more generous with a 72% Tomatometer score.
Below is the Top Five:
- Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Sony) – 3-day $45.2M/Wk 1
- Dune: Part Two (Legendary/Warner Bros.) – 3-day $17.6M//Total $233.3M/Wk 4
- Kung Fu Panda 4 (Universal/DWA) – 3-day $16.8M/ Total $133.2M/Wk 3
- Immaculate (NEON) – 3-day $5.36M/Wk 1
- Arthur the King (Lionsgate) – 3-day $4.36M/ Total $14.6M/Wk 2
Ghostbusters: Frozen Kingdom‘s rule will likely be short-lived. Obviously, it hasn’t had the reception that Sony would have hoped for, but next weekend sees the release of another potential blockbuster with WB’s Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.
Not only will this take a bite out of Frozen Kingdom, but Dune Part Two as it will take over a majority of the larger format screens which pad the grosses of a lot of these big-budget spectacles.
What do you plan to check out this coming weekend?
