‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ to Zap the Competition With $43M-$45M Opening

The Ghostbusters are back in action.

Sony’s spring event pic Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is opening everywhere Friday in North America following select Thursday previews. It also begins its international rollout this week. The studio is betting on an opening in the $43 million to $44 million range, while tracking services are suggesting $45 million or more.

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The movie is a direct sequel to director Jason Reitman’s 2021 feature Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which succeeded in restoring the luster to the franchise created by his father, the late Ivan Reitman.

Set two years later after the events in last film, Frozen Empire includes returning castmembers Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Celeste O’Connor and Logan Kim, alongside Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and William Atherton, who starred in the original 1980s films. Series newcomers include Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt. The new Ghostbusters only has one week to itself in terms of tentpoles before Legendary and Warner Bros.’ Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire stomps into theaters.

Frozen Empire is certain to win the weekend, but there’s no lack of other new product as indie studios try to get their titles out before the crush of summer.

Sydney Sweeney — star of the sleeper hit rom-com Anyone But You — is back on the big screen this weekend in Neon’s specialty horror pic Immaculate. In the film, she plays a devout nun traveling to a remote convent in the picturesque Italian countryside, but her journey soon devolves into a nightmare as it becomes clear her new home harbors a sinister secret and unspeakable horror. It is tracking to open in the low single digits.

GKIDS is releasing The Boy and the Heron following its Oscar win for best animated feature, while Star Trek fans will have a chance to watch the new crowdfunded William Shatner documentary You Can Call Me Bill, a meditation on his 93rd birthday (March 22), life, career and mortality.

Holdovers to watch include Dune: Part Two as it attempts to hit $600 million or more in global ticket sales and Kung Fu Panda 4, which has topped $179 million globally.

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