Frozen Empire’ Makes $4.7M In Previews

SUNDAY AM: No snowstorm or sour reviews stood in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire‘s path this weekend as the Gil Kenan directed, Jason Reitman produced sequel minted a $45.2M opening after a nice spike on Saturday from families. Yesterday came in at $16.8M, 5% ahead of Friday/previews’ $16M. If the numbers hold up, that’s the second best start ever for a Ghostbusters’ movie after the 2016 female ensemble of Kirsten Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon.

The domestic opening of the fifth movie takes the entire Ghostbusters franchise per Sony past $1 billion. I understand studio reports had the franchise through four films at $985M, a result that’s higher than Box Office Mojo. Mojo’s numbers on overseas are off on the first 1984 film.

The opening is solid news as some exhibitors feared that the movie was going to collapse into the high $30M range based on their presales which were significantly off from Kung Fu Panda 4. However, Sony’s marketing team got the sequel past the finish line as the brand is a cherished and a vital one for the studio. Still, that B+ CinemaScore, 84% Rotten Tomatoes audience score and sour reviews at 43% should be ignored by the studio. More on that in a bit.

iSpot showed a thrifty campaign spend by Sony on Frozen Empire, a little higher than what Lionsgate shelled out on Arthur the King, getting a reach of 650M impressions, led by TV spots on ABC, ESPN, CBS, NBC and Bravo (Sony went after moms there). TV spots for Frozen Empire aired on male-demo programming, i.e. NBA games, Sports Center, Men’s College Basketball, Late Show With Stephen Colbert and also at moms watching Good Morning America.

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SATURDAY AM: Despite “Marchmellow” weather in the Northeast and a B+ CinemaScore, Sony’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is expected to still reach an opening between $42M-$44M this weekend after a $16M Friday. PLFs and some of the Imax are accounting for 36% of box right now. Frozen Empire, which cost more than Ghostbusters: Afterlife, $100M to $75M before P&A, is co-financed by TSG.

By the way, that B+ CinemaScore is the same grade as the all female 2016 Ghostbusters. This should be a wakeup call for Sony on the goody goody family nature tone of this franchise and its longevity moving forward. More on that later.

There are heavy rains along the Atlantic Coast from Washington D.C. up through Vermont with flood watches in effect, however, no significant cinema closures are expected.

Overall the box office with $97.6M is expected to be off -17% from the same weekend a year ago as that’s when Lionsgate’s roared with John Wick: Chapter 4, which posted the highest opening in the franchise with $73.8M and led the marketplace to $116.6M.

Updated PostTrak exits from ComScore and Screen Engine are 80% positive on the Gil Kenan directed sequel with a 64% definite recommend. Grades are lower among kids versus Afterlife at 89% positive and a 57% must see right away.

Male leaning of course at 55% with 46% of the crowd between 25-44 years old with another 30% of the audience 13-24 years old and the largest quad a tie between 18-24 and 25-34 years old at 23%. Diversity demos are 48% Caucasian, 27% Latino and Hispanic, 12% Black, 8% Asian and 5% Native American. Ghostbusters: Afterlife is playing best in the South, South Central and Midwest. Top grossing cinema in the nation so far is AMC Disney Springs in Orlando FL with over $50K.

NEON’s Sydney Sweeney nun horror movie, Immaculate, did $2M yesterday for what’s shaping up to be a $5M opening in fourth place. CinemaScore is a C which is par for a horror movie (they get B and C CinemaScores). PostTrak is significantly lower at 52% positive and a 30% definite recommend. Euphoria crowd is coming out at 52% female with 75% of the audience between 18-34. Largest demo is 25-34 at 39%. Diversity demos were 44% Caucasian, 30% Latino and Hispanic, 11% Black, 10% Asian, and 5% Native American/other. Best markets are the East, South Central, and West with the AMC Burbank the pic’s top-grossing cinema stateside at $15,3K. Elevation has Canada. The movie, which was fully financed by Black Bear, and a passion project of Sweeney’s, cost under $10M. It’s a P&A deal for NEON. The release model for this horror movie is very similar to what Blumhouse use to execute with its microbudget BH Tilt movies.

IFC’s has the other specialty horror film on the marquee, Late Night With the Devil at 1,034 locations which posted a $1.1M Friday, 3-day heading to $2.9M. Solid numbers in NYC, Toronto, Salt Lake City, Edmonton, Dallas, San Antonio, and LA.

Disney has Pixar’s Luca, which was previously relegated to Disney+, in theaters, but similar to the other Pixar re-releases this year (Turning Red, Soul), there was no muscle behind these in marketing. The Italian-set animated movie did $150K yesterday at 1,390 for what will be a very underwhelming $510K or $367 per theater.

The chart:

1.) Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Sony) 4,345 theaters, Fri $16M, 3-day $42M-$44M/Wk 1

2.) Dune: Part Two (Leg/WB) 3,437 theaters (-410), Fri $4.5M (-44%), 3-day $16M (-44%)/Total $231.7M/Wk 4

3.) Kung Fu Panda 4 (Uni/DWA) 3,805 (-262) theaters, Fri $4M (-54%), 3-day $14.5M (-52%), Total $130.9M/Wk 3

4.) Immaculate (NEON) 2,354 theaters, Fri $2M, 3-day $5M/Wk 1

5.) Arthur the King (LG) 3,003 theaters, Fri $1.1M (-61%), 3-day $4M (-48%), Total $14.2M/Wk 2

6.) Late Night With the Devil (IFC),1034 theaters Fri $1.1M, 3-day $2.9M/Wk 1

7.) Imaginary (LG) 2,513 theaters (-605), Fri $755K (-55%) 3-day $2.5M (-55%), Total $23.3M /Wk 3

8.) Love Lies Bleeding (A24) 1,828 theaters (+466) Fri $484K (-56%), 3-day $1.5M (-40%), Total $5.5M/Wk 3

9.) Cabrini (Angel) 1,765 (-1,085) theaters, Fri $410K (-51%) 3-day $1.37M (-51%) Total $16.1M/Wk 3

10.) Bob Marley: One Love (Par) 1,266 theaters (-1066) Fri $295K (-57%), 3-day $1.02M (-55%), Total $95.2M/Wk 6

HoldoversOne Life (BST) 1,009 (+26) theaters, Fri $290K (-63%), 3-day $960K (-44%)/Total $3.4M/Wk 2

The American Society of Magical Negroes (Foc) 1,153 (+6) theaters, Fri $120K (-76%), 3-day $400K (-69%)/Total $2.1M/Wk 2