Jason Reitman’s direct sequel to the original Ghostbusters films is doing great at the box office. According to a Saturday morning update from Deadline, the film is on track to make $40.5 million in its opening weekend, which is quite a bit better than initial expectations ($30 to $35 million). Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s success is notable for at least two reasons: 1) cinema attendance is still being held back from coronavirus, and 2) Sony barely advertised one of the film’s biggest draws, the return of the original Ghostbusters and other key characters (e.g., Sigourney Weaver’s Dana Barrett).
Deadline’s roundup of the film’s positive reception thus far:
Ghostbusters: Afterlife received an A- CinemaScore, slightly higher than Paul Feig’s all-femme 2016 Ghostbusters, which was graded with a B+. PostTrak has a good 69% definite recommend for the film, which is higher than the 57% of that Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy, and Leslie Jones ensemble.
Overall, general audiences gave Ghostbusters: Afterlife four stars, with an 82% positive. Those in distribution also like to look toward the Rotten Tomatoes’ audience meter, and that’s at 95% off 1,000 verified ratings. Of all the demos giving Ghostbusters: Afterlife its best grades on PostTrak were the 45-54 bunch (who turned out at 11% ), who gave the pic a 90% grade.
A majority of Ghostbusters fans seem to agree that Afterlife is a worthy sequel that pays proper respect to its classic predecessors. The film reportedly features an incredible, albeit creepy and controversial, cameo from one of the franchise’s fan-favorite characters.
Source: Deadline