Let the ghost hunting begin.
Sony’s spring event pic Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has started off its North American box office run with $4.7 million in Thursday previews before rolling out everywhere on Friday.
That compares to $4.5 million in previews for the last film, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which succeeded in restoring the luster to the classic franchise created by the late Ivan Reitman. His son, Jason Reitman, directed Afterlife, but this time turned over helming duties to series co-scribe Gil Kenan.
Sony expects Frozen Empire to top the weekend’s box office chart with an opening in the $43 million to $44 million range, while tracking services are suggesting $45 million or more. (Afterlife, which debuted amid the challenges posed by the pandemic era, debuted to $44 million domestically). Critics didn’t exactly embrace either film, with Frozen Empire presently sporting a not-so-fresh score of 44 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Positive audience reaction, however, may boost the movie’s box office potential.
Set two years later after the events in last film, Frozen Empire includes returning castmembers Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Celeste O’Connor and Logan Kim, alongside Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and William Atherton, who starred in the original 1980s films. Series newcomers include Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt.
Written by Kenan and Reitman, the story follows the Spengler family as they return to the New York City firehouse to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who have developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level. But when the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an army of ghosts that casts a death chill upon the city, demon fighters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.
Elsewhere, Sydney Sweeney — star of the sleeper hit rom-com Anyone But You — is back on the big screen this weekend in Neon’s specialty horror pic Immaculate.
In the film, she plays a devout nun traveling to a remote convent in the picturesque Italian countryside, but her journey soon devolves into a nightmare as it becomes clear her new home harbors a sinister secret and unspeakable horror. It is tracking to open in the low single digits.
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