As recently as the middle of the week, projections had Ghostbusters: Afterlife tracking for an opening weekend in the $27-35 million range, which felt a little on the low side. After all, fans have literally been waiting 32 years for the sequel, and the demand has only increased in the aftermath of Paul Feig’s derided reboot.
Factor in a resurgent box office that saw October deliver the highest returns since January 2020, where numbers were tracking just 4% behind pre-pandemic levels, and you’d have expected the nostalgia-driven Afterlife to soar much higher than analysts were predicting.
As it turns out, that’s exactly what we’re getting, with the latest estimates putting the third canonical installment in the franchise and fourth in total on course for a three-day frame in excess of $40 million. While that’s not going to come close to troubling the biggest debuts of the last year and a half, it’s a solid return nonetheless.
Sony are also expecting Ghostbusters: Afterlife to hold strong through the Thanksgiving holiday and beyond, especially when it’s the last major effects-driven blockbuster coming to theaters until the studio’s Spider-Man: No Way Home on December 17. When you factor in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the Ghostbusters and Spidey, Sony are looking to finish off 2021 in strong fashion.
