While “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” -- Sony Pictures’ latest edition of its franchise -- earned a hefty $45.2 million domestically for its opening this past weekend, Comscore says U.S./Canada box-office revenues are down 9% overall through nearly the first three months of 2023.

Year-to-date 2024 box-office revenue now totals $1.47 billion versus 2023. 

This year’s numbers are better than 2022 (13.3% higher) and a still struggling pandemic-affected 2021 (up 595%), according to IMdb Box Office Mojo. But they are down from 2020 (22%) and further behind the pre-pandemic 2019 (35.6%)

The latest version of The “Ghostbusters” franchise topped the previous edition “Ghostbusters: Afterlife ($44 million) in 2021.

From its latest “Ghostbusters,” Sony spent a modest $11.7 million in national TV advertising, according to EDO Ad Engage estimates.

For this end of March period, two recently opened movies continued to score well: Warner Bros. Discovery and Legendary's science-fiction film "Dune: Part Two" at $17.6 million, four weeks after its release, and Universal Pictures’ “Kung Fu Panda 4” at $16.8 million, after three weeks.

Two other new opening weekend releases were farther down the list: Neon’s “Immaculate” ($5.4 million) and IFC Film’s “Late Night With The Devil” ($2.8 million).

Through nearly three months of this year, national TV advertising from all studio film marketers was down 33% to $230.7 million from last year’s $345.4 million, according to EDO Ad EnGage.