When it comes to the Ghostbusters franchise, it’s a bit of a mixed bag of reactions. While I am team “all Ghostbusters content is good,” there are those who absolutely hated the Paul Feig film that brought us female Ghostbusters, and then there is the reverse group who now hate the new Ghostbusters: Afterlife for making it seem as if the 2016 movie wasn’t good enough.
You can (and should) view them all separately, but to each their own, I suppose. For me, I love the 2016 Ghostbusters movie, and I loved the 2021 film from Jason Reitman. And now, we might be getting more of Egon Spengler’s family and their ghost-busting adventures.
News came out of CinemaCon today that Sony has plans for a sequel to the Paul Rudd-led Ghostbusters: Afterlife. The film centered on Spengler’s family, with his daughter, Callie (Carrie Coon), bringing her son, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) to live in his home as they try to clean it out (and need somewhere to stay).
What they discover is that Egon became a recluse to protect those he cares about and try to stop a world-ending event from occurring. It was a beautiful sendoff for Harold Ramis’ character and brought us back into the world of Ghostbusters with the same characters we knew from the first two movies (the 2016 Ghostbusters movie also had the original cast included, but as different characters).
Passing the baton
In a way, the 2016 Ghostbusters movie was an attempt to pass on the franchise to a new group of Ghostbusters. It was met with a lot of sexist hatred and for a movie that I thought was genuinely funny, and the reaction led to the franchise dying with that one film. The continuation of the legacy now goes to characters like Phoebe, Trevor, and Phoebe’s new friend Podcast (who loves Ray because he’s his one listener on his ghost podcast).
The reason Afterlife worked was that it was still connected to the original team. Sure, I would have loved more of Jillian, Abby, Erin, and Patty in New York City (where the original movies took place), but I also, sadly, think that Afterlife is the way to bring in new fans and the old Ghostbusters fans and marry the two.
Continuing with Ghostbusters: Afterlife, especially if Jason Reitman wants to keep his father’s legacy going, isn’t that shocking and isn’t a risk for Sony. If anything, Afterlife itself was the risk and proved that there is still a place for movies about the Ghostbusters. Plus, seeing Mckenna Grace as a little Egon was adorable and exactly what I would have wanted for my favorite character.
There’s no news yet on which cast members will return for the sequels, but it would be fun to have the original team play a part, as they cameoed in the end, but that’s just something we’ll have to wait and see about. Until we know more, at least we know that little Egon herself, Phoebe, is probably going to fight some more ghosts, and that’s wonderful!
(image: Sony Pictures)
Published: Apr 26, 2022 03:24 pm