‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ Avoids Woke Lectures, Scores Big at Box Office

Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?

The 2016 GhostbustersReboot did all it could to offend the loyal fans of the movie. Sony reported that the movie cost $70million.

The sequel is now available. Ghostbusters: Afterlife, does everything possible to connect with the franchise’s fan base. The film was wildly successful at the box office.

Deadline notes the film earned $44 million over the weekend and “blew up in the heartland.”

The opening weekend of 2016’s film brought in $2 million more. This film had the advantage of being released mid-summer when teenagers and young adults aren’t in school. It was also available years before the pandemic, which encouraged some film-goers to delay streaming until they could see them.

Afterlife’s release date also got bumped several times due to that pandemic, switches that likely hurt similarly juggled titles like You have no choice but to live. Black Widow.

Estimated box office analysts AfterlifeThe film stars the iconic cast of 1984’s classic films in their roles. It is expected to bring in $30-35 millions. Sony expected a box-office haul of $28 million.

Was there any change?

Sony licked its sizable wounds, hired the son of the original film’s director, Ivan Reitman, to steer the ship back to safer waters. Jason Reitman (director) also wrote the script. Afterlife, spent the last year-plus acknowledging the film’s fan base.

There were no insults. Just messages suggesting that his movie would correct the mistakes of the 2016 edition. Actually, Afterlife completely ignores that reboot, connecting directly to the saga’s mythos.

Was there anything that went wrong last time? Let’s be real, nearly everything.

Stars, director, and key Sony executive lashed at the disappointed original cast members who were bumped to four women Ghostbusters. Next, the press spoke out, suggesting that anyone who wasn’t onboard with the all-female reboot of Marvel was misogynist. (Something similar happened mere weeks ago when the press cheered on Marvel’s woke EternalsDespite its poor box office performance,

The film’s first trailer got digitally booed on YouTube, drawing ferociously bad reviews from potential movie goers.

Then, Team GhostbustersGet political.

Marketing team had new quartet join Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Ellen, hammering home the film’s feminist agenda.

The franchise was temporarily halted by all of this and a movie that can be described as boring. Sony stopped plans to create a new series. Ghostbusters content.

Hollywood can be slow to grasp a lesson. For example, the industry believes that woke content will be popular despite ample evidence.

It took flop after flop during the 2000s for studios to realize Americans didn’t want to see the U.S. Military demeaned during war time, no matter how they felt about the Iraq War.

Sony should be commended for this success. Now, the mega-studio has been corrected. GhostbustersThe brand is back.

It’s worth noting Sony poured $144 million into the 2016 reboot, compared to a much smaller $75 million for Afterlife.

This, along with lots of goodwill directed at the target audience made all the difference.

[Cross-posted from Hollywood in Toto]