“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” led the domestic box office over the weekend after it hit theaters on Friday.
The latest film in the ghostbusting franchise scored $45.2 million on its opening weekend thanks to the multi-generational appeal of the film, The Hollywood Reporter reported.
It just barely beat out “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” the last entry in the series, which came out in 2021 after theaters had been closed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and movie companies were struggling to get audiences back into seats.
At the time, “Afterlife” had an opening weekend of $44 million. “Frozen Empire” cost $100 million to make compared to the 2021 film which cost $75 million.
Overseas, the latest film earned another $16.4 million during its debut weekend.
The latest sequel was directed by Gil Kenan, after he and Jason Reitman, the son of late director Ivan Reitman — responsible for the smash hit original “Ghostbusters” movie in 1984 and the sequel “Ghostbusters 2” in 1989 — helped resurrect the original franchise with “Afterlife” and found box office success while inviting a new generation of fans with such stars as Finn Wolfhard, McKenna Grace, Paul Rudd, and Carrie Coon.
Light ‘em up! @Ghostbusters Frozen Empire is the #1 Movie. Get tickets to see it Now Playing exclusively in movie theaters: https://t.co/5XeXoFBnMe pic.twitter.com/NQjVpGiusi
— Sony Pictures (@SonyPictures) March 25, 2024
Both Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd appeared in “Afterlife” along with original stars Annie Potts, Sigourney Weaver, and Ernie Hudson. Harold Ramis appeared with the help of CGI in the movie, as he died in 2014.
“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” picks up the story where “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” left off, bringing in the nostalgia again with a return of Murray, Aykroyd, Hudson, and Potts.
For “Frozen Empire,” written by Kenan and Reitman, the story focuses on what happens when the Spengler family moves back to New York to the firehouse where the original Ghostbusters started their business, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The new generations of Ghostbusters end up joining forces with the original “Ghostbusters” crew whose secret lab has helped them take their ghostbusting skills to a new level.
A description of the movie on IMDB reads, “When the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second ice age.”
The latest flick hit theaters on March 22.