Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Finally) Crossed A Major Box Office Milestone
More than two months after it first hit theaters, "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" has crossed a fairly significant box office milestone. The film has been an afterthought for several weeks (all due respect), as several big, new movies such as "Challengers," "The Fall Guy," "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes," and "Furiosa," among others, have entered the marketplace. Be that as it may, Sony's latest entry in the long-running franchise had just enough gas left in the tank to pass the $200 million mark globally.
For its 10th weekend in theaters, "Frozen Empire" pulled in $355,000 domestically, coming in at number 14 on the box office charts. The film had to shed 591 screens as "Furiosa" and "The Garfield Movie" opened to a hugely disappointing $26.3 million and $24 million, respectively. Naturally, that gobbled up the lion's share of the attention. But with that little bit of extra money, the new "Ghostbusters" has amassed $112.7 million domestically to go with $87.5 million internationally for a grand total of $200.2 million worldwide. It probably won't make much more, meaning Sony will probably have a tough time justifying the film's $100 million budget. Don't count on seeing another installment getting the green light any time soon. Though this might make a reboot of some sort a little more likely.
In any event, this is the final milestone the movie will achieve. It has already been available on VOD for weeks in the U.S., and as summer rolls on, it will need to surrender what few screens it has left for movie like "Bad Boys: Ride or Die" and "Inside Out 2." In hitting this marker, it does cement the fact that the "Ghostbusters" franchise has a well-established ceiling at the box office.
Ghostbusters runs into the $200 million ceiling once again
While director Ivan Reitman's original 1984 classic "Ghostbusters" ($295 million worldwide) remains one of the most beloved mainstream comedy hits in history, that film was more of an exception rather than a rule, at least as it relates to the rest of the franchise. Pretty much every other entry has topped out just north of $200 million globally, not accounting for inflation. "Ghostbusters II" ($215 million), 2016's female-led "Ghostbusters: Answer the Call" reboot ($229 million), and 2021's "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" ($203 million) were all in the same ballpark. The audience is certainly loyal, but also somewhat limited.
Sony made a mild miscalculation after the moderate success of "Afterlife" in 2021. That movie, directed by Jason Reitman, carried a mere $75 million budget. Because of the other revenue streams that come from a "Ghostbusters" movie, that was enough to get the sequel a green light. Unfortunately, director Gil Kenan's follow-up was quite a bit more expensive, and with an almost identical turnout, that pretty much doomed it to lose money in its theatrical run (not to mention the fact that critics didn't think it was very good). But on a long enough timeline, the studio will probably find a way to get out of the red.
As far as the future goes, it's wildly unlikely that this iteration of the franchise will continue. We've got a new animated "Ghostbusters" series in the works at Netflix, and for the time being, that seems like a better path for the future of the franchise, at least for now.
"Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" is in theaters and on VOD now.