NEW YORK—After months of prerelease debate, Sony Picture’s female-led “Ghostbusters” reboot arrived in theaters as neither a massive success nor the bomb some predicted, as the much-scrutinized film opened with an estimated $46 million in North American theaters, second to the holdover hit “The Secret Life of Pets.”
“The Secret Life of Pets” stayed on top with $50.6 million in its second week, according to studio estimates Sunday.
But all eyes were on Paul Feig’s “Ghostbusters,” which resurrects the 1984 original with a cast of Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon. Sony, noting it was the best opening for a live-action comedy in more than a year, called the result “a triumph.” Audiences, which broke down 46 percent male and 54 percent female, gave it a solid B-plus CinemaScore.
“There was a lot of scrutiny on the film going up to release, but the movie in the opening delivered,” said Josh Greenstein, president of marketing and distribution for Sony. “We’ve successfully restarted a very important brand and we’re just ecstatic at the results.”
Yet given its hefty price tag—the film cost $144 million to make, after rebates, plus more than $100 million to market — it’s a relatively tepid start for “Ghostbusters” that will put pressure on the film to perform well overseas. And that could be a challenge in some territories that don’t have the same familiarity with the original “Ghostbusters” films.
