There’s a new trend in Hollywood to reboot a franchise in a way that acknowledges its history. 2018’sHalloweenpits Laurie Strode’s granddaughter against Michael Myers.Star Wars: The Force Awakensintroduces Rey as the galaxy’s new heroin awe that the myths about Luke Skywalker are true. AndGhostbusters: Afterlife, one of the many planned 2020 movie releases that got pushed back by COVID-19, is set to do something along those lines both in front of and behind the camera: it features the old cast passing on the torch to a new generation of ‘busters, and it’s being directed by Jason Reitman, the son of the original’s director, Ivan Reitman.
As much as Jason Reitman hopes to please diehardGhostbustersfans with his new movie, his dad’s opinion is the one that mattered the most. After the movie industry wasput on hold for months, Reitman was finally able to screen his new film for audiences in December – and his father was on the guest list. The director toldEmpire, “My father hasn’t been leaving the house much because of COVID, but he took a test, put on a mask, and drove down to the Sony lot to watch the movie with the studio. And after [it ended], he cried, and he said, ‘I’m so proud to be your father.’ And it was one of the great moments of my life.”
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The younger Reitman’s film won’t take place in New York City like his dad’s original movies orPaul Feig’s all-female 2016 reboot, but rather in Summerville, Oklahoma, where the Ghostbusters and the “Manhattan Crossrip of 1984” have become legendary. In addition to Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts all reprising their original roles,Ghostbusters: Afterlifewill star Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon, and Paul Rudd as new characters.
The main genre that theGhostbustersfranchise is associated with is comedy, thanks to the classic ad-libs of Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis, and Jason Reitman certainly wants to makeAfterlifefunny, but he’s as eager to make it scary. He said that the first movie was “really my first experience with a horror film,” and mentioned a DGA meeting in whichSteven Spielberg told himthat the library ghost in the opening scene ofGhostbustersis one of the “top 10 scares of all time.”
Originally,Ghostbusters: Afterlifewas slated to hit U.S. theaters on June 04, 2025, but Sony delayed it to Jul 07, 2025, when it became apparent that the pandemic wasn’t going away any time soon. It’s currently set to be released on June 11. That date is subject to another delay, of course, but with the vaccine being rolled out,fingers crossed that moviegoing will be back to normalby the summer.
