"Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" Debuts at $45M

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Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Leads Box Office with $45 Million Debut
by Rebecca Rubin
March 24, 2024


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. At the international box office, the film ignited to a tepid $16.4 million from 25 markets for a global start of $61 million.

Still, those domestic ticket sales are just barely ahead of its 2021 predecessor, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which earned $44 million to start while the box office was deep in pandemic recovery mode.






This weekend’s other new release, Sydney Sweeney’s religious horror film Immaculate, opened in fourth place with a middling $5.3 million from 2,354 theaters.

Neon backed the movie, which follows Sweeney as an American nun who joins a remote convent in the Italian countryside. But her warm welcome is interrupted after she discovers her new home harbors some dark secrets.

Reviews have been so-so, while moviegoers saddled the film with a “C+” CinemaScore (which is not unusual for the horror genre).






Elsewhere, Dune: Part Two impressively remained in the No. 2 spot with $17.6 million from 3,437 venues, dropping just 37% from its last outing.

After three weeks of release, the sci-fi epic has grossed $233 million in North America and $574 million globally.






After two weeks at No. 1, Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4 dropped to third place. Ticket sales for the family film were still strong with $16.8 million, a 44% decline from the prior weekend.

So far, it has amassed $133 million at the domestic box office and $268 million globally.






Mark Wahlberg’s canine drama Arthur the King rounded out the top five with $4.4 million from 3,003 locations. It has generated $14.6 million to date, which isn’t all that impressive.

However, Lionsgate only spent $19 million on the film, so its modest price tag could soften its box office shortcomings.






On the independent scene, Late Night With the Devil took sixth place and summoned $2.8 million from 1,034 venues, including (and you can’t make this up) $666,666 on Sunday.

This marks the biggest opening weekend for its distributor IFC Films, overtaking 2022’s Watcher with $826,775. The low-budget thriller stars David Dastmalchian as a late-night talk show host who keeps the cameras rolling during a live Satanic incident.

https://variety.com/2024/film/box-of...nd-1235950537/






March 22-24, 2024: Weekend Studio Estimates

1. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire $45,200,000
2. Dune: Part Two $17,600,000 / $233,358,543
3. Kung Fu Panda 4 $16,799,000 / $133,236,355
4. Immaculate $5,360,000
5. Arthur the King $4,360,000 / $14,630,255
6. Late Night with the Devil $2,833,419
7. Imaginary $2,800,000 / $23,624,798
8. Love Lies Bleeding $1,586,476 / $5,680,294
9. Cabrini $1,428,474 / $16,163,077
10. Bob Marley: One Love $1,100,000 / $95,316,599