Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire ices out competition with $60.8m debut

Updated

Mar 25, 2024, 06:18 PM

Published

Mar 25, 2024, 02:45 PM

LOS ANGELES – Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire scared its way to the top of the North American box office over the weekend, taking in an estimated US$45.2 million (S$60.8 million) in what one analyst called a “unique and impressive opening”.

“Only four other comedic series in the last 27 years have lasted five episodes,” analyst David Gross said, with ticket sales for the latest entry in Sony’s comedy series coming in “well above average for the genre”.

Still, with a US$100 million budget, Frozen Empire has a way to go to reach profitability.

Co-written by film-maker Jason Reitman, whose late father Ivan Reitman directed the original Ghostbusters in 1984 and the sequel in 1989, Frozen Empire teams a new cadre of ghost catchers (Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon) with the veterans (Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson) as they take on a frightening deity trying to launch a new Ice Age.

It is the fifth instalment of the film franchise, coming after the female-fronted reboot Ghostbusters (2016) and Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021).

Meanwhile, Warner Bros’ science-fiction epic Dune: Part Two, about war and survival in an inhospitable sand-covered planet, again managed a strong second place, taking in an estimated US$17.6 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period.

It has earned US$233.3 million in the United States and Canada and US$341 million internationally, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported.

In third place, dropping two spots from the previous weekend, was Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s martial arts comedy Kung Fu Panda 4, at US$16.8 million.

Immaculate, a new psychological horror film from indie studio Neon and starring American actress Sydney Sweeney, placed fourth at US$5.4 million.

Sweeney, a graduate of hit TV series Euphoria (2019 to present) and recent romcom Anyone But You (2023), plays a nun who – despite her virginity – becomes pregnant. Other nuns in her remote Italian convent at first treat her as the next Virgin Mary, but then things start getting creepy.

And in fifth spot was Lionsgate’s Arthur The King, at US$4.4 million. American actor Mark Wahlberg plays an adventurer who befriends an injured stray dog.

Rounding out the top 10 were Late Night With The Devil (US$2.8 million), Imaginary (US$2.8 million), Love Lies Bleeding (US$1.6 million), Cabrini (US$1.4 million) and Bob Marley: One Love (US$1.1 million). AFP