Sony has reason to celebrate. “Ghostbusters” is another film franchise that has managed to accumulate one billion dollars worldwide from theaters. This was achieved thanks to the fifth film in the “Ghostbusters” series: “Ghostbusters: Empire of Ice”.
The film maintains the level of its two predecessors by opening with over 40 million dollars. Current estimates suggest that “Ghostbusters: Empire of Ice” will earn a solid 45.2 million dollars on its opening weekend. This result is slightly better than what “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” achieved (44.0 million dollars), but slightly lower than “Ghostbusters” (46.0 million dollars).
“Ice Empire” had a negative impact on DreamWorks animation. “Kung Fu Panda 4” dropped from first place to third. “Dune: Part Two” is holding firmly to the position of runner-up.
Following the success of the romantic comedy “Not You,” Sydney Sweeney has switched genres. “Untouched” performed decently, earning 5.4 million dollars with a budget of 10 million dollars. This already places it seventh among the highest-grossing titles distributed by Neon. The film has received excellent ratings from audiences (an A on CinemaScore), so it will undoubtedly compete for a spot in the top five.
“Untouched” competed for the attention of horror fans with another new release of the week, the Australian production “Late Night with the Devil”. However, this film was available in a much smaller number of theaters and only earned 2.8 million dollars. While not an impressive result, it is already the highest-grossing horror film in the history of the distributor IFC Films.
Meanwhile, Disney/Pixar’s efforts to catch up in theaters continue to yield little results. “Luca,” which skipped theaters in the USA and went directly to Disney+, only earned 550 thousand dollars in its opening weekend. This is nearly identical to the result achieved by “Turning Red” (578 thousand dollars) in February.
The big release of the next weekend will be the spectacle “Godzilla and Kong: New Empire”. Additionally, the new action thriller starring Liam Neeson, “Land of Saints and Sinners,” should also receive wide distribution.
