In news that fans definitely didn’t want to hear, the reviews for Ghostbusters: Afterlife have been rolling in from all corners, and the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score is currently lagging behind the 2016 reboot that generated an alarming amount of online vitriol.
While the critical consensus isn’t the be-all and end-all, it’s fascinating and more than a touch ironic that the sequel people have been waiting to see for over 30 years is faring worse on RT than the one they outright rejected from the second it was first announced.
The combination of name value, brand awareness, social media buzz and nostalgia led many insiders and analysts to believe that Ghostbusters: Afterlife was on track for a hefty opening weekend at the box office. However, ahead of the wide theatrical rollout on Friday, the most recent estimates have Jason Reitman’s supernatural comedy hovering around the $27-35 million range.
That’s not exactly a disaster, although even by the revised standards caused by the pandemic, that would be an decent performance but nothing more. Sony are expecting Ghostbusters: Afterlife to hold well throughout the Thanksgiving holiday and beyond, though, and it should have decent legs given the relative dearth of direct competition coming in the next few weeks.