Ghostbusters Projected to Take Back Top Spot

Bustin’ makes audiences feel good…

I’m not sure that translates exactly as the song intended. Then again, maybe it does. Maybe Ray Parker pulled off one of the greatest censor slips in the history of soundtracks?

Anyway, to get on track, guess what movie is now projected to take back the top spot at the box office this weekend? You read the title, so it’s not a hard one. Ghostbusters Afterlife is amazingly projected to knock off Encanto and reclaim the title of top movie in its third weekend at the box office. Should it top $13,000,000 this weekend, it will easily sail past the hundred-million mark for its total domestic pull. As for Encanto, taking second play with a projected $9,000,000 in its encore weekend will be a true testament to Disney having failed again to play around with the traditional box office and streaming formula.

Encanto looks to drop more than 60% from its disappointing first weekend. With its Disney+ debut coming up soon, and its box office revenues crashing, Encanto will likely be the lowest-earning Disney animation film in the modern era. To give you just some idea of how poorly Encanto is performing, here is a list of Disney animated films that are likely to wind up with a larger box office record than the movie all about La Familia Madrigal:

• 2002’s Peter Pan: Return to Neverland
• 2002’s Treasure Planet
• The Tigger Movie
• The Jungle Book 2

If you consider inflation, it gets worse, but there’s no point. You can see those four movies and figure out where Disney is landing with Encanto. The sad part about the movie is that for all its flaws and lack of interest, the film opened with more than 50% of its audience being Hispanic. It’s not fun to realize how much a particular demographic is pulling for this film; but like was said in the review for the film on That Park Place… it’s just messy. It is no Coco.

As hard as the critics pulled for Encanto, and as much as they hated on Ghostbusters Afterlife, the verdict is in. It does feel like a sea change. Companies are in a tough spot and they need to make money. The government isn’t coming to bail out movie studios (at least probably not). They have to make profits. To see how things to if they don’t, look at Disney’s greater than 20% drop in stock value over the past year with Disney+ growth stalling and their movies being dud after dud. Now take a gander at Sony. They own November and December of 2021. When is the last time Sony owned the box office for two months? Seriously? Yet with Ghostbusters Afterlife and Spider-Man: Far From Home, that’s exactly what they’re doing. And they’re doing it by giving the fans what they want.

(P.s. The numbers Spider-Man: Far From Home is going to do — unless ruined by a virus variant — will be so big that the whole “pandemic low box office numbers” narrative is going to be shattered.)

The critics will just have to take this one on the chin. Audiences are speaking and they’re telling corporations what they want going forward. The amazing thing is, Ghostbusters Afterlife really doesn’t have any competition until December 17th when Sony will knock their own movie off the pedestal with Spider-Man. West Side Story will almost certainly take the top spot the weekend of December 10th, but is a musical truly competing with a family action sci-fi? I don’t think so. So don’t be surprised when Ghostbusters Afterlife has yet another strong hold. That’s one heck of a monthlong run for the film.

Fire up the sequel, Sony. Disney has dropped their guard and you own this holiday box office.

Update 12/5/21 2:46 PM EST

Rejoice, fans of Encanto! The film will manage to hold onto the top spot according to a new report by The-Numbers. Encanto looks to win by two million in a weird box office weekend that may be affected by the Omicron variant more than anticipated. More information to come in a forthcoming article later this week. Will West Side Story and Spider-Man: Far From Home be in trouble from lockdowns and consumer hesitancy?