Hulu Just Added One of the Most Divisive Blockbuster Sci-Fi Movies of the 2020s

A new golden age for sci-fi has taken off in the 2020s. With groundbreaking movies like Everything Everywhere All at Once and acclaimed adaptations like Dune, sci-fi is booming on the big screen in an era that is easily rivaling the ’80s for the genre. But that doesn’t mean every movie has been a hit. A 2024 sci-fi franchise installment won big at the box office but absolutely polarized critics and audiences, and it just landed on Hulu.

Hulu subscribers can now stream Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire after the movie moved from Netflix to the Disney-backed streamer on January 22nd. The film grossed $202 million at the global box office, but that success was marred slightly by the sharp critic and audience divide. The movie brings back legacy stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson as the veteran Ghostbusters crew teams up with the Spengler family to save the world from a second ice age unleashed by an ancient evil.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Split Critics and Audiences

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Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was a commercial success, but the same couldn’t be said for the film’s critical reception. The movie became one of the most polarizing sci-fi entries of the 2020s, with a significant gap between critics and audiences. Frozen Empire earned just a 42% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes to become the lowest-rated in the Ghostbusters franchise, that critic number ticking in several points lower than the next lowest-rated movie, Ghostbusters II, at 55%. The film’s audience consensus painted a significantly better picture, though, and sits at a high 81%, which is dead center in the larger ranking of Ghostbusters films’ audience reception.

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The lukewarm response from critics boiled down to an overstuffed plot and bloated cast, but some members of the general audience went as far as to declare Frozen Empire the “best film of the franchise.” As a sequel, the movie holds up pretty well as a fun but flawed sequel that relies heavily on nostalgia. Although the film can feel a bit convoluted at points as it tries to stuff too much into its runtime, the familiar faces and callbacks, like Slimer and the library ghost, are fun for existing fans, and the movie generally does a pretty good job at introducing cool new ghosts and lore elements. Frozen Empire certainly isn’t the best entry in the iconic franchise, but it has enough enjoyable moments and some pretty good lore expansion that make it worth a watch.

What’s New on Hulu?

It’s hard to believe that we’re already nearing the end of January, but the month has been a great one for Hulu subscribers. The streamer still has a few more titles to add before the month ends, but subscribers can already stream other January arrivals like 28 Weeks Later, Hacksaw Ridge, Predator, Super Troopers, and Twinless.

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