The ‘Busters are back with an estimated $45 million in ghost dollars, making an admirable, but underwhelming dent in the weekend box office.
Ghost Busters: Frozen Empire generated ticket sales just barely ahead of 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife which earned $44 million in its opening frame. Critics and audiences were mixed on the latest film, with a 43% on Rotten Tomatoes and a B+ on CinemaScore. Ratings were much higher on Rotten Tomatoes fairly unreliable Audience Score, which currently sits at 84%.
Dune: Part Two finished in second place once again, continuing the film’s box office successes. Part Two earned $17.6 million and has now grossed $233 million in North America and $574 million globally, making Warner Bros decision to move the film from November 2023 to March 2024 a shrewd business decision.
Kung Fu Panda 4 dropped into third place with $16.8 million, also proving to be another hit for Jack Black and Dreamworks with a running total of $133 million at the domestic box office and $268 million globally.
Speaking of lukewarm, horror films in 2024 haven’t been able to pack theater-goers in so far this year, as this week’s spookfest, Immaculate, opened in fourth place with a scary-bad $5.3 million Reviews have been positive (72% on Rotten Tomatoes), but ticket buyers tagged the film with a C+ CinemaScore. We will see if The First Omen prequel can reverse the trend in a few weeks (April 5), but the horror genre has been quiet at the box office in 2024.
Stay tuned to Conskipper for next week’s Box Office report when Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire arrives to mash the other competition into the ground.