Box office preview: ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ receives the call to bring March back on track

Edward Douglas
·5 min read
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When the March box office seems to be tailing off after a weaker weekend, who you gonna call? Read on for Gold Derby’s box office preview to find out.

For the third weekend this month, we have the potential for a movie to open with more than $40 million after literally months without one. That new movie is Sony’s “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the sequel to the Jason Reitman-directed “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” which helped revive the franchise in 2021 with what is now lovingly referred to as a “requel,” i.e. a combo of a reboot and a sequel.

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“Frozen Empire” brings back the newest Ghostbusters, played by Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard and Mckenzie Grace, and other characters from “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” as well as the OGs (Original Ghostbusters): Dan Ackroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson and even Annie Potts. New characters for the movie — which returns the Ghostbusters to New York City — include two played by comic actors Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt.

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“Afterlife” debuted the weekend before Thanksgiving in 2021, while theaters were still recovering from the pandemic, opening with $44 million on its way to $129.4 million domestic and $203.6 million globally. That was actually right on par with the 2016 reboot directed by Paul Feig (“Bridesmaids”) that put four popular comic actresses in the proton packs. Coincidentally, “Afterlife” opened just a month after “Dune: Part One,” and we’ve already seen this month how that movie’s sequel has far surpassed the success of the first movie, which is definitely a good sign for “Frozen Empire.”

Reviews won’t be running until early Wednesday morning but considering this is a sequel to a movie that received mixed reviews at best, we probably shouldn’t expect film critics to be that bullish on its sequel without a Reitman at the helm. (This one is directed by Gil Kenan, who co-wrote and co-produced both movies.) The good thing is that “Ghostbusters” are so popular even with younger kids, so it will do well with family audiences over the weekend even with a PG-13 rating, and it should get a nice boost as schools go into spring break this month.

“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” should be good to open with between $40 and 46 million, indeed making it the third movie of the month to open with more than $40 million, then we’ll have to see how it holds up against another blockbuster sequel in “Godzilla X Kong,” which opens over Easter and could target the same audience.

After that, it’s going to be all about the returning movies with the animated “Kung Fu Panda 4” taking on “Dune: Part Two,” which crossed the $200 million mark domestically over the weekend, in an extremely tight race for second place. Mark Wahlberg’s “Arthur the King” will probably hold up decently, taking fourth place despite a weaker opening.

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“Sydney Sweeney is a pregnant nun” sounds like the idea for a comedy sketch on “Saturday Night Live,” which Sweeney recently hosted, but in fact, it’s the premise behind her new horror film “Immaculate,” which will be getting a wide release from Neon after premiering at the SXSW Film and TV Festival last week, where it received mixed reviews. In the movie directed by Michael Mohan, Sweeney – who is also a producer on the film – plays Sister Cecilia, who travels to the Italian countryside to take a job at a prestigious convent, only to learn of her new home’s horrifying secret.

Sweeney is coming off her hit rom-com “Anyone But You” with Glen Powell, and the tragic flop that was “Madame Web,” both for Sony, but distributor Neon definitely has a good handle on these sorts of “heightened horror” movies. Religious horror has produced many hits going back 50 years to “The Exorcist,” but other more recent hits include “The Nun” and its sequel. There have also been a few disappointments, like Russell Crowe’s “The Pope’s Exorcist” last year, which only opened with $9 million.  “Immaculate” will be opening more moderately in 2,000 theaters, but Sweeney’s popularity and the fact it’s offering lots of gory R-rated horror as counter-programming to “Ghostbusters” should help it break into the Top 5 with between $4 and $5 million.

A24 will be expanding Juan Torres’ “Problemista,” co-starring Tilda Swinton, nationwide this Friday as well, but one has to wonder whether it’s already run its course in limited release, since it doesn’t seem like a movie that might play outside big cities. Because of that, it might not even be able to break into the Top 10.

Russell Crowe stars in Adam Cooper’s crime-thriller “Sleeping Dogs,” playing a former detective suffering from Alzheimer’s who is dragged back into an old case by a man accused of the death crime who has been on death row. Also starring Karen Gillan (“Guardians of the Galaxy”) and Marton Czokas, this could open moderately wide similar to Crowe’s February release “Land of Bad,” which was also released by The Avenue.

Check back on Sunday to see how the movies above fare as the month leads up to the Easter weekend and spring break happening across the country.

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