Sony‘s sequel to Jason Reitman’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, took in $4.7M from previews last night that began at 2PM.

That amount of money is close to the $4.5M previews of Ghostbusters: Afterlife which opened heading into the pre-Thanksgiving 2021 frame when audiences were still shaking off Covid fears. Last night’s cash is also higher than the previews of Paul Feig’s 2016 all female Ghostbusters which did $3.4M (and opened to $46M). Those showtimes began at 4PM and resulted in a $16.6M Friday, $44M opening weekend. I’m told from sources that Frozen Empire will require a lot of walk-up business to get to that level as presales for some exhibitors were low.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire received 4 stars from the Thursday night audience, which is always filled with die-hard fans, 80% positive and a 66% definite recommend. Mostly men who showed up at 55%, who were the pic’s harshest critics at 76% positive, with women at 45% with a better 85% grade.