This is the largest domestic opening for both director Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy.
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“Ghostbusters” appeared in cinemas on 11 July 2016. If you had to pick one, would you hit Ghostbusters or The Secret Life of Pets? Successful sequels could very well see this new iteration of the property eclipse the box office success of the original series, which might go some way to quieting the legions of naysayers that have been voicing opposition to Sony’s reboot efforts.
Ghostbusters has been a touchy subject for some people over the last few months, with a lot of discussion over whether or not the remake would garner much attention at the box office.
Still, it’s the biggest opening film that Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy have made together. “The controversy and all the attention helped us get out there”, said Josh Greenstein, Sony’s president of world-wide marketing and distribution.
The audience for the film skewed female, with women making up 54% of ticket buyers. One analyst said, “unless it has massive legs, any opening under $50 million is not a triumph”. “It’s still an asterisk”. Globally that figure rises to an even more impressive $721.7 million.
Good news, fans of watching angry fanboys explode on Youtube in rage – Ghostbusters 2 is set to be greenlit by Sony.
The only other event on the charts this weekend was the debut of the Bryan Cranston led The Infiltrator.
We’re hoping for a sequel anyway. Broad Green declined to comment on the film’s results.
Warner Bros.’ “The Legend of Tarzan” brought in $11.1 million to put it in third place, with a domestic total of $103.1 million.
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It swam past Shrek 2’s $441.2 million trove to become the highest grossing animated release domestically. Its stateside gross stands at $445.5 million. A bright spot for theater owners: Pre-release surveys indicated this week that “Suicide Squad”, the supervillain mashup from Time Warner Inc.’sWarner Bros., should be a massive hit when it opens on August 5. It will likely slide out of the top 10 when Star Trek Beyond opens next week.
