Patreon Poll for the Weekend of March 22 (Patreon)

Hey gang, well it's gonna be a WILD time at the movies this weekend as we see the release of yet another dreadful-looking Ghostbusters legacy sequel, along with a film that just may (if we're lucky?) revive the nunsploitation genre, so... hooray?!

While we hope Immaculate does well for our friends at NEON, we gotta focus this weekend's poll on Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, a film that, up until yesterday when Steve told me otherwise, I could've sworn was at least directed by Jason Reitman, but no! Helmed by Ghostbusters: Afterlife co-writer, Gil Kenan, this will now be only the second time a Ghostbusters film was directed by someone outside the Reitman blood line.

To give Kenan some credit, a few of his previous directorial efforts include Monster House, which was fun enough, and the Poltergeist remake from 2015 that I thought was pretty decent. But the fact that this new story appears to really bump up the presence of the old cast leads me to believe this movie is in danger of simply being a real "we listened to Reddit"-type Rise of Skywalker film and, yeah, no thanks.

ANYWAY, I'll save my rambling on the film itself for Monday's On-Screen Live, but let's stick to the box office for now, shall we?

Now, a couple things to consider here, one being that Frozen Empire is set to replace Dune: Part Two on many PLF (Premium Large Format) screens like Dolby & RPX auditoriums, and of course, IMAX. So that means higher ticket prices flooding in for this one. Not that it's a complete barometer here, but a cursory glance at the pre-sales at my local theater, the AMC Lincoln Square on Manhattan's Upper West Side, is showing some real so-so numbers going into the weekend. I'm writing this up on Thursday, so perhaps there's real day-of/walk-up potential here? "Hey, man, what are you doing today? Oh, absolutely nothing? Wanna see that new Ghostbusters movie?" — It could happen!

Another thing to consider is that Dune: Part Two will be going into its fourth weekend at the cinema, and Kung Fu Panda 4 is going into its third. Both films are expected to drop ~44% from last weekend's haul, so this could signal a primo time for Frozen Empire to come in and gobble up a real big piece of box office real estate.

Is it possible that Immaculate, which I'm already seeing some reviews calling Benedetta-lite, will pull some older, OG Ghostbusters fans away from Frozen Empire to instead experience some real spooky stuff? Well, Frozen Empire is going on ~4300 screens and while I couldn't find a number on Immaculate's screen count, I'm certain it's nowhere near that high, so even if, yeah, it won't matter.

Frozen Empire is currently forecasted to pull in something in the range of $35M - $45M, with that 3-day total looking like it could fall somewhere around $39.5M.

So with all that in mind, what are we thinking for the first weekend of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, folks? Vote below and we'll see where we stand this coming Monday on an all-new On-Screen Live!

Have a great weekend at the movies, y'all!

Andrew