"Ghostbusters" may have silenced some of its critics with above-average reviews, the supernatural comedy couldn't summon enough spirits its opening weekend to defeat "The Secret Life of Pets."

Paul Feig's franchise reboot earned $46 million, coming in second at the domestic box office behind the animated comedy "The Secret Life of Pets," which added another $50.6 million to its coffers, bringing its U.S. total to $203.2 million.

Starring Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Chris Hemsworth, the reboot of the 1984 comedy has been the target of often-vicious criticism since it was announced. "Ghostbusters" is at 73 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and 60 on Metacritic.

"Ghostbusters" won the box office on Friday with $17.2 million to "Pets'" $15.1 million, but couldn't continue the trend throughout the weekend. However, even with the loss, the film still had the biggest release for a live-action comedy since 2015's "Pitch Perfect 2."

Still, the film needs to continue to earn in the next few weeks if it wants to recoup its $144 million budget for Sony. Regardless, the studio has said it's interested in making more "Ghostbusters" films.

"This is a restart of one of our most important brands," Josh Greenstein, Sony's marketing and distribution chief, told Variety.