Ghostbusters Opens With $46 Million, But Can't Beat Secret Life of Pets

Sony's long-awaited and controversial Ghostbusters reboot opened in theaters on Friday in the US. The first-weekend projections are now in, and the action-comedy is expected to make $46 million, according to Deadline. This is a "tad higher" than the Hollywood site expected, it said.

"This is the biggest opening for a live-action comedy in over a year and we reached a wide audience that's both new and nostalgic," Sony marketing chief Josh Greenstein said. "Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones made it fresh."

Greenstein said he's also optimistic about next weekend. "We have room to run as we are the only live-action comedy in the market," he stated.

Ghostbusters could not topple Universal's hit animated film, The Secret Life of Pets, which stayed perched at the No. 1 position that it's held since opening a week ago.

Here are the top US box office films for the weekend of July 15-17, according to studio-reported estimates posted on Deadline:

1. The Secret Life Of Pets -- $50.56 million
2. Ghostbusters -- $46 million
3. The Legend Of Tarzan -- $11.1 million
4. Finding Dory -- $11 million
5. Mike And Dave Need Wedding Dates -- $7.5 million
6. The Purge: Election Day -- $6.08 million
7. Central Intelligence --$5.3 million
8. The Infiltrator -- $5.3 million
9. The BFG -- $3.7 million
10. Independence Day: Resurgence -- $3.45 million

Head to Deadline for a full breakdown of this weekend's US box office performance.

For more on Ghostbusters, check out GameSpot's review. A new Ghostbusters game from Activision also launched this week, but GameSpot critic Jason D'Aprile called it a "disappointment."