Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

[Scarlet Spider]

Phoebe is my favorite. She's easily the best legacy character. McKenna Grace is so good.

 

[henzINNIT]

I like Phoebe a lot. They're all pretty likable to be honest. There's just too many of them. It would be hard to kill your darlings but at least 2-3 characters could have been cut easily and you'd never notice. And that space would have given the others more space to breathe.

 

[Sithborg]

Well, credit were credit is due, I did not think they could make a ghostbusters movie that pissed me off more than Afterlife. So, good job proving me wrong. It didn't even have a coherent core of good stuff for me to latch onto. Just kernals of stuff that was potenially great.

I think they are damn lucky they released before a holiday weekend, because I see a collapse incoming.

 

[Spider-Fan]

The characters for me are not the weakness of these last 2 movies. It's the script and the nostalgia bait. I like the new characters. I wish they just had...less nostalgia reliant material

 

[Sithborg]

The characters for me are not the weakness of these last 2 movies. It's the script and the nostalgia bait. I like the new characters. I wish they just had...less nostalgia reliant material

Kumail Nanjiani's character very much was a big problem for me.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Kumail Nanjiani's character very much was a big problem for me.

I honestly forgot about him, lol!

 

[Drizzle]

I saw this today. It was better than I thought it would be going in but it just seemed like a lazy nostalgia-bait sequel. All in all, I've seen much worse sequels like that so I can't complain too much. I was entertained by it at least. There were a few jokes that legitimately gave me a good chuckle (

Spoiler

When Podcast joked with Patton Oswalt that his friend was already dead when he tried to call him and Venkman's response to Ray not having a lighter because he quit smoking in the '90s: "Proud of you then, proud of you now."

).

For the most part it felt like it was very much Phoebe's movie and the rest of the characters were just kind of there. Besides Aykroyd who had a bit of a larger role here, it seemed like the OG cast only had slightly more screentime than they did in Afterlife.

Overall I thought it was a step down from Afterlife but an okay entry in the franchise. If Sony is generous and decides to do another one even with the box office for this being what it is, I wouldn't be surprised if Frozen Empire is really the last one for the original cast. Maybe Aykroyd and Hudson would come back but Murray looked like he had somewhere else to be.

 

[Lily Adler]

Just retire the OG team, please.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I say retire the franchise, honestly. I think Ghostbusters simply is an IP that's just....run its course. It's okay to just let these go and move on to new IPs sometimes. And I say this as someone who didn't hate this last movie, but it wasn't amazing either. We're just past the prime of the franchise at this point

 

[DarkKnight88]

I mean, the franchise was retired for 25 years.

I'm certainly glad we have the two films we do with the surviving members still able to contribute.

Now they can go in any new direction really.

International?

No...wait!

 

[DyeLorean]

The original 1984 specifically mentions the idea of "Ghostbusters" as a franchise. Is too bad the movies didn't go there. The whole business side of it hasn't been touched much. There was a very natural way of progressing the story in that regard.

In the Red Letter Media review of Afterlife they had some great ideas about how Egon's daughter inherits the rights to the Ghostbusters business and how they could've played of all that into the plot. It all sounded very interesting, not gonna lie. I wish they could've used some of that.

 

[Sithborg]

I say retire the franchise, honestly. I think Ghostbusters simply is an IP that's just....run its course. It's okay to just let these go and move on to new IPs sometimes. And I say this as someone who didn't hate this last movie, but it wasn't amazing either. We're just past the prime of the franchise at this point

I'm down for a new cartoon. Live action is a bit too beholden to the og, it seems.

Even with the lower budget, I don't see how this film ever gets to be profitable.

 

[Lily Adler]

I mean, the franchise was retired for 25 years.

I'm certainly glad we have the two films we do with the surviving members still able to contribute.

Now they can go in any new direction really.

International?

No...wait!

 

[BatLobster]

So it had a pretty decent hold this weekend.




I think things can go either way at this point. I personally think a lackluster marketing campaign and harsh reviews hurt this more than franchise fatigue. I don’t think this entirely burns away all the good will from Afterlife though. I’d say it’s 50/50 at this point. They can probably get close to break-even with post-theatrical revenue streams. Sony doesn’t have a streaming service, so they can leverage that right away. The animated Netflix show is still moving forward which in theory is there to strengthen the franchise with kids. So, I think there’s probably a world where Sony weighs everything out and decides- we’re this far in, we’re already actively investing in this universe, let’s just hope for a better swing of the bat next time and maybe reduce the budget back below 100 million.

Even if this franchise is not on a course to being a box office giant anytime soon, there seems to be a pretty solid and dedicated fanbase that will consistently show up (and has for the most part enjoyed the last two films). One big reason I root for these movies to succeed because as much as some people like to rag on this franchise for existing, I think the success of “mid budget” blockbusters is an overall good thing for the industry. That’s what has been lost in the past decade or so, and we need more if we want to see more ambitious original films out there.

 

[Sithborg]

It needed that smaller drop last weekend. It is not going to do much more than $100 domestically. And the big problem for this as a franchise is that it is dead internationally. It is not going to hit profitability by just box office. I'm not sure how well the merch is, but I am pretty certain it is not saving the franchise. Where we go from here is is going to be telling how desperate Sony is for franchise.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Honestly, if it were me I would make smaller Ghostbusters films and use the franchise concept. My one idea is you have a Ghostbusters branch in an entirely different city and their Ghostbusters unionize and go on strike, and we follow a group of unemployed friends who become scab Ghostbusters and ya know they get hand me down equipment, anti-union videos, and barely any training and then they gotta take on like some kind of Conjuring like super demon and they are woefully untrained.

I would play around with the concept like that

 

[SwordOfMorning]

Honestly, if it were me I would make smaller Ghostbusters films and use the franchise concept. My one idea is you have a Ghostbusters branch in an entirely different city and their Ghostbusters unionize and go on strike, and we follow a group of unemployed friends who become scab Ghostbusters and ya know they get hand me down equipment, anti-union videos, and barely any training and then they gotta take on like some kind of Conjuring like super demon and they are woefully untrained.

I would play around with the concept like that

Ghostbusters being a satire about workplace drama and business in general is absolutely the most interesting part of the concept.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I think for a next movie they could have a villain less reliant on CGI like Viggo was. I loved the new villain in FE but they needed plenty of CGI to be brought to life.

 

[Steyin]

Part of me wants this to not succeed just so Sony's only money maker is Spidey....which would hopefully bring them one step closer to shutting down their film side for good.

 

[Sithborg]

Part of me wants this to not succeed just so Sony's only money maker is Spidey....which would hopefully bring them one step closer to shutting down their film side for good.

Because thats what the industry needs, one less major studio. Because Disney buying Fox has been great for the industry.

 

[BatLobster]

Ghostbusters being a satire about workplace drama and business in general is absolutely the most interesting part of the concept.

Oh man, heartily disagree with this. Ghostbusting is the most interesting part of Ghostbusters, if you ask me. I think the aspect of running a small, scrappy business in the big city and dealing with all the red tape that comes with that/prevailing against the odds definitely adds to the overall charm of the concept and characters. But it's still worlds away from something like The Office or Parks and Rec, which are much better suited to that kind of satire. The core concept of Ghostbusters-- nerds using science to engage the supernatural world, is a fantastic, inherently cinematic concept in its own right. The humor and irony add an extra layer of greatness, absolutely. But I would much rather Ghostbusters double down on some of the horror elements than the satire elements, because I don't think it really has anything particularly pointed or interesting to say in whatever satire is there. The best humor in Ghostbusters has always been character-driven, because of the eccentric mix of personalities you're dealing with when you're in a line of work as weird as ghostbusting.

I think the Ray Parker Jr. song is actually the perfect metaphor for what the series is as a whole. You could listen to that song and say..."Ah yes, here we have this super cheesy jingle that is clearly a winking satire of the unchecked capitalism of the 80s and a commentary on the pervasive, subliminal power of advertising...etc. etc." But no, actually it's just a really catchy, feel-good song that owns what it is, and kinda slaps. That's Ghostbusters as a whole, in a nutshell to me.

 

[super85]

Kind of a mess this film. Saw it last weekend, to a almost empty theatre. I mean I liked "Afterlife" and it was a gift that kept giving when reading all the hilarious angry comments from Paul Feig and Leslie Jones. This one was a mess with way too many characters that weren't needed. Best parts were the scenes with original cast. Absolutely loved Bill Murray's scenes, only problem was that the second scene was so good that I think they should have been in reverse order. Too many characters, and the fact that I don't really care much about them with the exception of maybe Trevor made it a bit of a frustrating view. I mean there its great to see Walter Peck but you kind of agree with the guy that minors shouldn't do that kind of work lol, and why couldn't random english guy who kind of looks like the animated Egon Spengler be an adult Oscar instead? , did we really need more than cameos from Podcast and Lucky?

Best parts Bill Murray, + the couple of scenes between Ernie Hudson and Dan Aykroyd. They could retire half of the new characters if they ever make another movie.


It was ok, this had better scenes than Afterlife did, but Afterlife was a better constructed movie.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Another decent hold for this last weekend. Seems to be doing better on the weekends than it does of a weekday.

 

[BatLobster]

Another decent hold for this last weekend. Seems to be doing better on the weekends than it does of a weekday.

I think what we're seeing there is just the reality that family movies, unless it's a phenomenon like the Super Mario Bros. movie, kind of have an uphill battle these days. Between the cost of going to the movies, finding a sitter, etc...a trip to the movies for a family of 4 costs a lot and has to be a carefully considered decision. Especially with so much content readily available at home. So I'm not surprised to see a movie like this show some legs on the weekends as families trickle out to see it. Especially when this has a weirdly weak marketing push.

It's the lack of robust international support for the franchise that I think is hurting it most at the box office. This would've been right behind Wonka and Puss in Boots last year as 6th highest grossing family film domestically.

We'll see but I really wouldn't be surprised to see a sequel greenlit. Again, they can more quickly recoup money by licensing it from streaming since Sony doesn't have a streaming service. A movie like this is also filled with product placements/cross promotions which probably pads things a bit too. I just think this is more of a "let's see what lessons we can learn moving forward" situation vs. "shut the whole thing down and forget it ever happened".

 

[Spider-Fan]

I think the reality is this film simply wasn't good enough or had enough WOM to survive GxK, which has been holding a lot better than FE has. I can't say I am shocked by what it has made. Worst part being its domestic gross cause this has never been a huge International series box office wise.