Box Office Report: Hell Freezes Over

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | March 25, 2024 |

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | March 25, 2024 |

Nostalgia works. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire received tepid reviews but it’s a brand that everyone knows and for some reason, it’s a franchise that has inspired a fervent devotion in some fans that should probably be studied. There’s certainly a case to be made that it’s one of the most impactful ‘geek’ series ever, for better or worse, but that’s a post for another day. Gil Kenan took over the series from Reitman and Son, and it earned $45.2 million from 4,345 in its opening weekend. It had a $100 million budget and is currently sitting at $61 million worldwide, so it seems likely Sony will invest in more of these movies. Yay?

Things continue to be good for Dune: Part Two, which is now at $233.3 million domestically and over $574.3 million worldwide. That makes it comfortably the highest-grossing film of 2024 so far, ahead of the Chinese films YOLO and Pegasus 2.

It was a good week for horror too. Immaculate, starring Sydney Sweeney, opened at number four to $5.36 million, while Late Night With the Devil, starring David Dastmalchian, brought in $2.83 million and debuted at number six. Both films have benefitted from strong reviews and online word-of-mouth (plus, the former has gotten some hilariously salty tweets from peed-off wannabe culture warriors, which is always entertaining.)

The Boy and the Heron returned to cinemas after its Oscar triumph, which earned it an extra $268,170 and brought its domestic gross to over $46.6 million. That makes it, by a healthy margin, the highest-earning Studio Ghibli film in the USA. See, there IS an audience for 2D animation.

In limited release news: the amazingly titled documentary Carol Doda Topless at the Condor, about a legendary topless dancer, earned $43,023 from four locations; the adventure film Riddle of Fire brought in $24,250 from 28 places; the British queer thriller Femme grossed $15,075 from one location; and the Australian crime mystery Limbo, starring Simon Baker, took in $5,790 from two venues.

This coming week sees the release of the horror film The Windigo and the monster mash bash Godzilla x Kong. The x is silent, apparently.

Check out the rest of the weekend box office here.