Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (March 22, 2024)

Cue the theme song, the Ghostbusters are back!

Sony has dropped the trailer for “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the sequel to 2021’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife.”

“Afterlife” took the ghostbusting to rural Oklahoma, but the franchise’s upcoming fifth film returns to its roots in New York City. In the trailer for “Frozen Empire,” an idyllic NYC summer turns icy when a mysterious “death chill” takes over the city. Paul Rudd leads a ragtag group of Ghostbusters to fight the frozen foe.

“Ghostbusters: Afterlife” premiered in November 2021 and was directed by Jason Reitman, son of Ivan Reitman, the original “Ghostbusters” director. After a single mom took her two children to a small town in Oklahoma, they discovered their grandfather’s secret legacy and their connection to the Ghostbusters.

“Afterlife” starred Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace, who were all new to the franchise. Original stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and Sigourney Weaver also made their “Ghostbusters” return in “Afterlife.” Jason Reitman penned the “Afterlife” reboot alongside Gil Kenan and Aykroyd, with Ivan Reitman producing.

Kenan directs the upcoming movie. Reitman teased the sequel’s production in an Instagram post at the iconic “Ghostbusters” firehouse standing alongside Kenan in February, with “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” cinematographer Eric Steelberg snapping the pic.

“It’s an absolute honor to pick up the proton pack and step behind the camera for the next chapter of the Spengler family saga,” said Kenan in a statement when he was announced as director. “I just wish I could go back to 1984 and tell the kid in the sixth row of the Mann Valley West that one day he was going to get to direct a ‘Ghostbusters’ film.”

As the fifth movie in the franchise, the most recent edition comes after “Ghostbusters” in 1984, “Ghostbusters II” in 1989, the female-led “Ghostbusters” in 2016 and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” in 2021.

Sony is set to release the film on March 29.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Man, I still haven't seen Afterlife. Looks like the kids are taking over in this franchise. I hope Rudd is the main character.

WyldeMan wrote:I enjoyed Afterlife and have seen it three times cause it's perpetually on Starz.

Ghostbusters has always been about the ensemble and never had one main character, why change that now?

UltimateMarvel wrote:

WyldeMan wrote:I enjoyed Afterlife and have seen it three times cause it's perpetually on Starz.

Ghostbusters has always been about the ensemble and never had one main character, why change that now?

True. Just would be nice to keep it consistent with grown adults and not children.

WyldeMan wrote:The Ghostbusters might have been adults but they were hardly ever grown. 

Besides if they acted like adults, kids around the world wouldn't have embraced them for forty years. 

The GB have always been deeply immature dudes trying not to cross streams in between getting blowjobs from ghosts and fighting marshmallows of varying sizes.

My point is, Ghostbusters is not a franchise to be taken seriously.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Of course. Just that most movies these days are about kids saving the world and it would have been a nice change. But we also remember 2016 Ghostbusters so I'm willing to let it go. lol I'll still give Afterlife a chance.

WyldeMan wrote:Yes from the perspective of the world always needing to be saved by a sixteen year old girl, I definitely understand the frustration however with the story they began telling in Afterlife this just works for me. These kids aren't the chosen one's they are just the grandkids of somebody who once stepped up with his friends to use science to fight supernatural creatures and have since taken up the mantle in his absence. But that's kind of the whole point right, anybody can be a Ghostbuster. Young or old by birthright or by happenstance, by skill or by will, all you gotta do is put on a Proton Pack.

UltimateMarvel wrote:

WyldeMan wrote:Yes from the perspective of the world always needing to be saved by a sixteen year old girl, I definitely understand the frustration however with the story they began telling in Afterlife this just works for me. These kids aren't the chosen one's they are just the grandkids of somebody who once stepped up with his friends to use science to fight supernatural creatures and have since taken up the mantle in his absence. But that's kind of the whole point right, anybody can be a Ghostbuster. Young or old by birthright or by happenstance, by skill or by will, all you gotta do is put on a Proton Pack.

True. I forgot the fact that they were related also so that helps imo.

Columbia Pictures‘ Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has pushed up its release date by one week, from March 29 to March 22, 2024, Sony announced on Tuesday.

The move positions the film to capitalize on another week of spring break viewership in a fairly open window, opening against Lionsgate’s Mark Wahlberg adventure pic Arthur the King and Focus Features’ The American Society of Magical Negroes, among other titles.

Columbia Pictures‘ Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has pushed up its release date by one week, from March 29 to March 22, 2024, Sony announced on Tuesday.

The move positions the film to capitalize on another week of spring break viewership in a fairly open window, opening against Lionsgate’s Mark Wahlberg adventure pic Arthur the King and Focus Features’ The American Society of Magical Negroes, among other titles.

Set to screen in IMAX and premium large formats, the latest picture in the storied Ghostbusters franchise watches as the Spengler family returns to where it all started – the iconic New York City firehouse – to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who’ve developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level. But when the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.

Based on Ivan Reitman’s 1984 classic Ghostbusters penned by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, Frozen Empire is the fifth film in the series and follows up 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which grossed over $204 million worldwide. Afterlife told the story of single mother Callie Spengler (Coon) and her two children, who move to a small town and discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters team. As mysterious supernatural events unfold, the family unearths the legacy left behind by Callie’s estranged father, one of the original Ghostbusters.

In addition to Coon, returning cast members in the new film include Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Celeste O’Connor, Logan Kim, Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts. Other actors aboard for the sequel include Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt.

Gil Kenan directed from his script written with Jason Reitman. Producers on the project include Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman and Jason Blumenfeld. Exec producers are Aykroyd, JoAnn Perritano, Amie Karp, Erica Mills and Eric Reich.