Frozen Empire’ Global Box Office Puts Franchise Past $1 Billion

The Ghostbusters franchise has seen its share of ups and downs. The first film became a cultural phenomenon, but the second suffered from a case of “sequelitis.” After decades of inaction, the series was rebooted, and then rebooted again just a couple of years ago. And now, in 2024, it seems like the franchise never went away, with the fifth installment — Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire — topping the box office in its opening weekend, and pushing the series past a major worldwide milestone.

Four decades after its debut in 1984, the Ghostbusters franchise has passed the $1 billion mark at the global box office. This comes after Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s $45 million domestic debut this weekend. The movie also grossed an additional $16 million from overseas markets, for an early global haul of $61 million. Produced on a reported budget of $100 million, the new movie defied frosty critical and audience reception to deliver a higher opening weekend haul than its immediate predecessor, Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Although it’s worth mentioning that Afterlife, directed by Jason Reitman, opened during the peak of the pandemic in 2021.

The movie concluded its domestic run with just under $130 million, and a hair over $200 million worldwide. The franchise’s top-grossing film remains the originalGhostbusters, which made $295 million globally, including the revenue generated by its many re-releases. But that being said, the lion’s share of its gross ($282 million) is in 1984 dollars, which means that it made considerably more if these numbers are adjusted for inflation. Directed by Ivan Reitman, the first Ghostbusters became the highest-grossing comedy movie of its era, and emerged as the second-biggest blockbuster of the year of its release.

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Released in 1989, Ghostbusters IIended its global run with $215 million, while the 2016 all-female reboot grossed $229 million worldwide over the course of its theatrical run. Directed by Paul Feig, the reboot was infamously produced on a budget of nearly $150 million. The movie debuted after weeks of backlash from sexist trolls, who couldn’t comprehend women being at the center of the series. Sony itself appeared to brush the movie under the rug when it decided to re-reboot the franchise with Afterlife. The movie was produced for roughly half as much as the 2016 film, and introduced Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace as the new stars of the franchise.

Directed by Gil Kenan, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire brings back the stars of the original two films — Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts — whose fan-favorite characters join forces with the new protagonists to take on a chilling new adversary in New York City. You can watch the movie in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.