Sony’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife fetched $16.1 million on Saturday, which is close to the amount received by Ghostbusters in 2016. The opening weekend sales were $44 million, making it the top domestic grosser. It replaced Disney’s Eternals, according to estimates from Comscore.
The Paul Feig Ghostbusters all female revival grossed $46 million in its opening weekend. This sequel, by Jason Reitman–Ghostbusters: Afterlife reached close to the 2016 movie with its $44 million opening weekend. Ghostbusters released in 1984 had opened at $13.6 million while the 1989 Ghostbusters II had earned $29.5 in its opening weekend.
The fourth installment of the scary franchise had been delayed due to the pandemic. It was expected to gross between $30 million to $35 million. The more than expected opening weekend not only gave larger profits to Sony and the rest but also indicated that viewers are back at the movies. Theaters in the heartlands saw huge crowds coming in to watch the movie.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife is directed by Jason Reitman, who is the son of the Ivan Reitman, the filmmaker of the original Ghostbusters. Its cast includes
Paul Rudd
Carrie Coon
McKenna Grace
Logan Kim
Celeste O’Connor
Finn Wolfhard.
This new generation of ghost hunters investigate strange happenings in their neighborhood. One nostalgic feature in this film is cameos by the original ghostbusters including
Bill Murray
Dan Aykroyd
Ernie Hudson.
Harold Ramis the fourth ghostbuster doesn’t appear in a cameo as he passed away in 2014.
Sony also licensed merchandise of the sequel in many new collaborations including
apparel
publishing
toys
collectibles
seasonal gaming
interactive games
home goods and more.
The comedy sequel will play continuously over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. It remains to be seen how well Ghostbusters: Afterlife will do over the next few weeks. It had a good start but will audiences continue to return to theaters as in pre-pandemic times remains to be seen. The box office weekend has shown that the initial response has been good.
Image: Sony Instagram
