I find it incredibly gross when a professional in the industry hopes that a film will fail. I saw a lot of this leading up to the release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife (read our review), with many declaring the fourth film in the franchise a “bust” after its initial box office projections. Too bad for them because it not only exceeded expectations, but nearly surpassed that of its predecessor. However, the big difference between the two films are the reported budgets, with the Paul Feig-directed reboot topping $140M and Afterlife allegedly in the 70M-80M range. I always celebrate a studio’s ability to show restraint.
After blasting the competition in its opening weekend, Ghostbusters: Afterlife nearly captured the top spot at the box office this holiday weekend, just losing out to Disney’s Encanto. Over the 3-day weekend, Afterlife pulled in an estimated $24.5M, with the 5-day totaling $35.25M. As of this writing, it also added $28M internationally (with a lot more to come) for a global total of $115M.
Based on the first two-week numbers, Ghostbusters: Afterlife will undoubtedly cross $150M and could even hit $200M+. Ghostbusters (2016) was able to muster up $216M, but with the massive $144M budget, lost money in its theatrical run. Because of the budget, Afterlife is a hit and should open the door to more ‘busting.
Unfortunately, Sony Pictures’ other genre release didn’t scare up big numbers. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (read our review), a reboot of the Resident Evil series, managed just $5.27M over the weekend and $8.8M through the 5-day holiday. In some good news, it did add an early $5.1M internationally for a $13.9M worldwide opening.
The budget is more restrained, reported at $40M and needing a really strong international run to recoup, but that is looking unlikely as of this writing. It’s unfortunate that Sony’s more-faithful, R-rated take on the video game franchise floundered when the Paul W.S. Anderson-produced and directed action series managed to top $250M-$300M multiple times. It’s not a good look and I’d find it unlikely that we get a sequel.
Check out our Boo Crew interview with star Kaya Scodelario and director Johannes Roberts right here…
