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'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' starts strong with $44 million debut, 'King Richard' whiffs

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Rebecca Rubin, Reuters

<p>LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - The box office ain&#x27;t afraid of no ghosts.</p><p>&quot;Ghostbusters: Afterlife,&quot; a sequel to the sci-fi comedy classic, collected $44 million in its opening weekend, a better-than-expected result. It&#x27;s a sign that family audiences are willing to visit their local movie theater, provided there&#x27;s something broadly entertaining to be found there.</p><p>At the international box office, &quot;Ghostbusters: Afterlife&quot; earned $16 million from 31 overseas markets, pushing its worldwide total to $60 million. </p><p>The latest installment in the decades-old franchise is looking like a win after the studio failed to revive the supernatural series years earlier. </p><p>It should be noted that Sony&#x27;s 2016 all-female reboot of &quot;Ghostbuster&quot; opened to $46 million, $2 million more than &quot;Afterlife.&quot; However that film cost $144 million -- compared to &quot;Afterlife&#x27;s&quot; $75 million budget -- making the earlier version a box office dud.</p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CUIGIrMthFW/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" 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C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></a></div><div style="padding-top:8px"><div style="color:#3897f0;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:550;line-height:18px"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CUIGIrMthFW/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="background:#FFFFFF;line-height:0;padding:0 0;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:100%" target="_blank">View this post on Instagram</a></div></div><div style="padding:12.5% 0"> </div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:row;margin-bottom:14px;align-items:center"><div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(0px) translateY(7px)"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;height:12.5px;transform:rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px);width:12.5px;flex-grow:0;margin-right:14px;margin-left:2px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(9px) translateY(-18px)"> </div></div><div style="margin-left:8px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:20px;width:20px"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:2px solid transparent;border-left:6px solid #f4f4f4;border-bottom:2px solid transparent;transform:translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"> </div></div><div style="margin-left:auto"><div style="width:0px;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-right:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(16px)"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;flex-grow:0;height:12px;width:16px;transform:translateY(-4px)"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-left:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(-4px) translateX(8px)"> </div></div></div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center;margin-bottom:24px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:224px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:144px"> </div></div><div style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CUIGIrMthFW/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by Ghostbusters (@ghostbusters)</a></div></div></blockquote><div><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>But despite rapturous reviews and Oscar buzz, the Warner Bros. sports drama &quot;King Richard&quot; became the latest adult-oriented drama to crumble at the box office. </p><p>The film, starring Will Smith as the father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams, eked out a meager $5.7 million from 3,302 venues in North America. </p><p>It may be slightly premature to call it an out-and-out bomb because Warner Bros. is releasing it concurrently on HBO Max, which likely cut into ticket sales. It was embraced by audiences, who awarded it an &quot;A&quot; CinemaScore, meaning &quot;King Richard&quot; could build steam as word-of-mouth grows. </p><p>Oscar pundits believe the movie could find itself in the awards race, another factor that could extend its life in theaters. </p><p>The film wasn&#x27;t cheap; it carries a $50 million production budget. Plus, Smith received his full backend box office bonus in addition to his $20 million salary as a make-good for sending the film to HBO Max.</p><p>&quot;King Richard&quot; landed in fourth place on box office charts, behind holdovers Marvel&#x27;s &quot;Eternals&quot; and Paramount&#x27;s &quot;Clifford the Big Red Dog.&quot;</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b3jWkzZQIuY?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>After two weekends at No. 1, &quot;Eternals&quot; slid to second place, collecting $10.8 million from 4,055 theaters. To date, the superhero epic has generated $135.8 million in the U.S. and Canada and $200.3 million internationally.</p><p>Meanwhile, &quot;Clifford&quot; pulled in $8.1 million in its second weekend of release, pushing the family friendly film to $33.5 million in North America.</p><p>Warner Bros. sci-fi spectacle &quot;Dune&quot; rounded out the top five with $3 million in ticket sales, buoying its domestic tally to $98.1 million. The film, directed by Denis Villeneuve and adapted from Frank Herbert&#x27;s seminal novel, is expected to surpass the $100 million mark in the coming week.</p>

'Ghostbusters: Afterlife,' a sequel to the sci-fi comedy classic, collected $44 million in its opening weekend, a better-than-expected result

'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' starts strong with $44 million debut, 'King Richard' whiffs

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'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' starts strong with $44 million debut, 'King Richard' whiffs

Rebecca Rubin,

Reuters

Published Nov 22, 2021 05:59 AM PHT

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Ghostbusters: Afterlife

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