Ghostbusters: Afterlife 2 Gets Big Setback, In Box Office Trouble?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, several highly-anticipated Sony titles including Kraven the Hunter and Gran Turismo are reshuffling their premieres due to the ongoing strike while others, like Ghostbusters: Afterlife 2 are pivoting for entirely different reasons. Pushing its opening date from December 20, 2023, to March 29, 2024, the untitled sequel could already be headed for a box office disaster.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife 2 has delayed its release date from December 20, 2023 to March 29, 2024.
As the historic SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes continue to put Hollywood in a chokehold, halting productions and previously set schedules in an attempt to ensure baseline necessities like fair pay and job security, the studios that are unwilling to make concessions are beginning to announce a change in the lineup of film releases.
Although the reason behind moving Ghostbusters: Afterlife 2 wasn’t made completely apparent by Sony, those who have been paying attention may have noticed that something was amiss when the studio didn’t take advantage of their CinemaCon platform to hype its original Christmas release date.
With Christmas week being one of the biggest money-making weeks of the year, the film would have likely been a shoo-in at the box office during the holiday rush. But, as it shifts to a premiere three months later, there’s a huge chance that the production won’t be scaring up the same level of ticket sales.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife 2’s New Competition
While going up against other hot end-of-the-year titles may have been a walk in the park for Ghostbusters: Afterlife 2 with its original December 2023 date, the title will now face off against other March 2024 releases including Disney’s live-action Snow White, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, A Quiet Place: Day One, Kung Fu Panda 4, Elio, and The Fall Guy, with others certain to be announcing their arrivals at a later date.
On the other hand, perhaps the studio saw more box office dollars when the second installment of the Jason Reitman-produced and co-penned franchise takeover arrives on the big screen versus stacking it up to the holiday rush.
Whatever the reason for moving the arrival of Ghostbusters: Afterlife 2, Sony likely has its eyes set on the prize and looking toward what the future of the box office will look like should the strikes go on. This is likely especially true for the SAG-AFTRA strike as union members are unable to jump on the press circuit to promote upcoming films.
With Christmas week being one of the biggest money-making weeks of the year, the film would have likely been a shoo-in at the box office during the holiday rush.
This is the main reason behind the very last-minute release shift in the racing flick Gran Turismo. Pushing its release date back a few weeks, those behind the end-of-the-year blockbuster are no doubt worried that the film’s numbers will drop without help from leading stars Orlando Bloom, David Harbour, and Archi Madekwe.
Like Gran Turismo, Ghostbusters: Afterlife 2 also boasts a killer lineup of all-star talent that includes familiar faces including Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, McKenna Grace, Carrie Coon, Celeste O’Connor, and Logan Kim returning to the fold alongside long-running Ghostbusters stars Dan Aykroyd, Annie Potts, Ernie Hudson, William Atherton, and Bill Murray. After dropping millions on the Gil Kenan-directed supernatural comedy, Sony can’t afford a box office disaster.
