“Call it fate, call it luck, call it karma, I believe everything happens for a reason.”
And with that Sony’s first trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife kicks things into high gear by teasing fans of the original series with relics of the past. Proton packs, ghost traps, even the Ecto-1 all make not so subtle appearances, but make a link that connects to the first two Ghostbusters.
Though the living cast members of those two films have yet to make this official appearance, we know that they will be back in some capacity.
Instead, a new generation of actors will be taking their place when they find out that there’s something strange in the neighborhood.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife is set decades after Ghostbusters 2 ended, with many forgetting about who the Ghostbusters are and what they did in New York City. Instead, their past is collecting dust in a very small secluded town, where a single mother and her two kids hope to call home. It’s there that they begin to discover their connection to the Ghostbusters legacy.
Here’s the official plot for Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
From director Jason Reitman and producer Ivan Reitman, comes the next chapter in the original Ghostbusters universe. In Ghostbusters: Afterlife, when a single mom and her two kids arrive in a small town, they begin to discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind. The film is written by Jason Reitman & Gil Kenan.
Carrie Coon (Avengers: Infinity War) will play the single mother while her two children are played by Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things) and Mckenna Grace (Gifted). Paul Rudd (Avengers: Endgame) will play the small-town teacher who is the only one who is familiar with the Ghostbusters and is intrigued by how these kids have Ghostbusters equipment.
One has to love the Bill Murray voiceover that is in the opening of the trailer. It is the perfect throwback that establishes the film’s connection and its new setting. So it will be interesting to see how the Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson will fit into all of this and how the late Harold Ramis will be recognized.
One thing that I can appreciate though is the fact that this isn’t just a straight-up copy of the originals. It’s tonally different as it plays on the idea of kids who have no idea of their grandfather’s thrilling legacy. So it will be fun to see how director Jason Reitman will balance out Ghostbuster’s paranormal comedy with coming of age themes. I guess we will just have to wait and see if he can deliver. Especially since he is following in the footsteps of his father Ivan Reitman, who directed the original two films.
Sony Pictures Entertainment will release Ghostbusters: Afterlife in theaters on July 10, 2020.
