‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Busting $42M+ Opening – Friday PM Box Office

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Oscar-winning Japanese animation film “The Boy and the Heron” earned a chart-topping $34.9 million between Friday and Sunday at the mainland China box office. Over its full five-day opening run, it took an even more spectacular $73 million. China was the last major territory to play the Studio Ghibli-produced fantasy in cinemas – it released in its native Japan in July and is imminently headed to streaming in many other territories – but that did not stop Chinese audiences from lapping it up. While most films release in China on a Friday, “The Boy and the Heron” was given a Wednesday outing in order to capture momentum from the Thursday-to-Saturday Qingming public holiday. Consultancy firm Artisan reports that it earned RMB248 million ($34.9 million) over the conventional Friday-to-Sunday weekend.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Legendary Entertainment’s “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” had the best opening in China of any Hollywood film this year. It scored $44.6 million (RMB317 million) in mainland Chinese cinemas between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. That was a nearly 70% share of the country’s weekend box office. Nationwide, cinemas enjoyed $64.1 million of business, a significant leap from the $39.5 million they earned in the previous weekend.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is huge!

J. Kim Murphy Some movie stars don’t lose their luster. A 90-year-old ape and a 69-year-old reptile are taking over domestic charts this weekend, as Warner Bros.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter What happens when two otherworldly beasts team up to take on the box office? Theater owners will find out this weekend as “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” touches down in North America. The monster mashup, from Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment, is targeting $50 million to $55 million from 3,850 theaters in its first weekend of release.

Nothing says Easter tentpole quite like Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire which is set to conquer the world with a box office debut around $135M, bolstered by 63 foreign markets and 3,850 theaters stateside.

With a $45.5 million haul at the box office this weekend, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” is the number one film in the country, and the Ghostbusters are back. While it remains to be seen if there will be a sequel—‘Frozen Empire’ cost $100 million, so it’ll need to make much more than “Ghostbusters: Afterlife”— fans will still have plenty of modern material to keep them happy if audiences want them.

Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4 had a rock ‘em sock ‘em weekend at the international box office, adding $55.3M from 69 markets for a $135M overseas running cume, and $268.2M global (there are several key markets still to release, including France, Australia, the UK and Korea). 

“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” collected $45.2 million in ticket sales over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, handing Sony Pictures the studio’s first No. 1 film since last summer.The opening weekend for “Frozen Empire,” in 4,345 theaters, was nearly exactly the same as the $44 million launch for “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” in 2021.“Afterlife” rebooted the franchise with a sequel built around the descendants (Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace) of Harold Ramis’ Egon Spengler, along with Paul Rudd’s seismologist Gary Grooberson.Neither film has been a hit with critics, but audiences have been more receptive.

IFC’s Late Night With The Devil has scared up the distributor’s largest opening weekend ever with an estimated $2.8+ million on 1.043 screens, coming in at no. 6 at the domestic box office.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is on top!

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” ruled over the domestic box office and arrived on the higher end of expectations. The latest installment in Sony’s supernatural comedy series has collected $45.2 million in its debut in 4,345 North American theaters. Earlier in the weekend, “Frozen Empire” looked like it would top out with $42 million but estimates were revised up after a bigger-than-expected Sunday.

J. Kim Murphy “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” kicked off with $16 millionin North American ticket sales across Friday and preview screenings in 4,345 theaters. That nearly matchesthe $16.6 million that its predecessor “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” earned on its opening day in November 2021.

Jordan Moreau Ghostbusting is back at the box office! “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the fifth and latest movie in the frightening franchise, has made $4.7 million at the box office in Thursday previews. Sony and Columbia Pictures’ new movie, which reunites the original stars of the ’80s classic and the cast from the 2021 “Afterlife” sequel, is expected to top the box office this weekend with an opening between $43 million and $45 million. That launch is in line with the previous film that revived the franchise, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” which had a $45 million opening amid the pandemic.

A24‘s Alex Garland dystopian U.S. movie, Civil War, is looking at an $18M-$24M opening when it hits theaters over April 12-14.

“Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” shows just how wrong a tried-and-true formula can go.How could these filmmakers possibly fumble the simple plot of “Answer the phone, find the ghost, vanquish the ghost”? Start by playing up a wholesome family sitcom dynamic that sanitizes the old story into a forgettable “Growing Pains” with lasers. After the likable last film, the Spenglers have relocated from dusty Oklahoma to New York City, where grandpa Egon (the late Harold Ramis) and pals Peter (Bill Murray), Ray (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston (Ernie Hudson) first donned the beige suits and battled the Stay Puft marshmallow man.

Oddly shaped, leisurely paced, and perhaps resembling an episode of the non-existent “Ghostbusters” TV show had there been one, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” is a curious film, out of time with modern editing rhythms. It’s atypical and unusual by today’s standards until you realize, ‘Oh, right, it’s a ‘Ghostbusters’ movie,’ already fitting into the oddball and unlikely genre of paranormal comedy.

Quite alarmingly, the fifth entry in the Ghostbusters series — following straight on from the unexpectedly charming Afterlife — starts by quoting all 51 words of Robert Frost’s 1923 poem Fire and Ice, which posits two very different apocalyptic scenarios for the end of the world. Has the franchise suddenly fallen prey to the glum Christopher Nolanization of what we used to think of as bubblegum entertainment? Is Paul Feig’s controversial 2016 all-female iteration about to be frozen out of the canon? Will it be worthy and… boring?

Sony’s $100M sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife— Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire— is looking at an opening at $45M, give or take. The previous installment, released during the pandemic in 2021, which was directed by Jason Reitman and produced by the late Ghostbusters filmmaker Ivan Reitman, opened to $44M and legged out to $129M domestic. Currently through four movies the Ghostbusters franchise stands at $945.2M; the fifth title will easily put the brand past the $1 billion mark if not this weekend, shortly thereafter.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.. Domestically, the film’s made more than $86.5 million in its first two weeks in theaters.The Post said that Jack Black-helmed feature, “while nice enough, suggests that the smartest move would be to let the fuzzy guy retire to a calming bamboo forest rather than embark on yet another predictable adventure.”“Dune: Part Two” — director Denis Villeneuve’s epic sci-fi desert flick — managed to hold onto the #2 spot during its third week of release, taking in $8.15 million.“Arthur the King” on Friday sold more than $3 million in tickets, nabbing the No.