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Sony’s Ghostbusters Horror Story

Despite various indications that it might flop, Sony positioned ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ as a scary movie rather than a nostalgic comedy. And that made all the difference at the box office.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
The movie's posters and various TV spots emphasized not a knee-slapping supernatural comedy but a (literally) bone-chilling horror movie. Courtesy of Sony Pictures
Scott Mendelson
March 25, 2024

There were any number of reasons to expect that Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire would open well below Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which relaunched the franchise with $204 million worldwide on a $75 million budget in Covid-plagued 2021. After all, the latest entry enjoyed far less hype than its Jason Reitman-directed predecessor; comedy sequels (from Gremlins II to Ted 2) often underwhelm; and it received comparatively worse reviews. But Sony Pictures somehow avoided the sophomore slump with its Gil Kenan-directed follow-up, which nabbed a $45.2 million domestic debut, slightly higher than Afterlife’s $44 million opening weekend. What went right?