‘Ghostbusters’ Owns Friday Box Office Crown And Could Have An Impressive Opening Weekend

Sure, it may have gotten some bad press and a lot of negative flack from fans across the world, but you can’t argue with the box office numbers. The reboot of Ghostbusters ended up winning its first Friday with an estimated $17.2 million domestic haul, and that has it headed toward a rather successful weekend. It may not end up in first place after all is said and done, but it didn’t fall flat on its face like many thought it would.

Box Office Mojo is reporting that it had predictions of around $46 million for the Ghostbusters opening weekend, and that really isn’t that bad. Considering it has a production budget of $144 million, it still has a lot of work to do, but critics can’t consider it a bomb just yet.

Anyone that has ever paid any attention to a movie directed by Paul Feig knows that his films always start our rather slow. Somehow or another, his films grow legs and end up coming to life further down the line and making good money as the weekends go by.

It is still expected that Ghostbusters is going to end up in second place for this weekend as the strong animated film The Secret Life of Pets should move up into first. On Friday, Pets ended up with $15.06 million and will likely jump to around $50 million for its second weekend in release.

Through Friday, it has brought in $210 million worldwide and that’s just phenomenal for Universal who released the film on a $75 million budget.

So far, those are the only two films this weekend that have gotten up into double digits as far as millions are concerned. That will obviously change by weekend’s end, but it is slow all the way around right now.

Warner Bros. has to be extremely happy with the success of The Legend of Tarzan, which just keeps on bringing in money and lasting much longer than anyone expected. Even with a budget of $180 million, it was not expected to do overly well, but it has brought in more than $151 million worldwide since its release at the beginning of July.

Estimated numbers for the Friday box office of July 15, 2016 are as follows.

1. Ghostbusters – $17.2 million

2. The Secret Life of Pets – $15.06 million

3. Finding Dory – $3.3 million

4. The Legend of Tarzan – $3.27 million

5. Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates – $2.35 million

6. The Purge: Election Year – $1.96 million

7. Central Intelligence – $1.56 million

8. The Infiltrator – $1.485 million

9. The BFG – $1.12 million

10. Independence Day: Resurgence – $945,000

As you can see from the estimates on Friday’s domestic haul, Disney is still doing well with Finding Dory at number three, which is having some serious box office legs. Unfortunately, The BFG is not proving to be nearly as successful as a lot of people were hoping for from the Steven Spielberg epic.

Through this date, it has taken in just around $44 million, and that is hardly going to be seen as a success as it will likely fall out of the top 10 by next weekend.

Full weekend estimates will be out by midday on Sunday, but the full totals will be out on Monday.

Ghostbusters may not break a ton of records, and it may not be able to change the minds of those who doubt it with every ounce of their being. Still, it looks as if it is going to be successful and it will probably end up making enough at the box office to merit a sequel. After the full numbers from its opening weekend, more will be known, but don’t look for it to go away without a fight.

[Image via Sony Pictures]