Two years after Ghostbusters: Afterlife hit theaters, the release of the first teaser for the follow-up movie has been announced for tomorrow, November 8th.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife received largely positive critical and fan responses. The 2021 film was the 10th highest grossing of the year, with a $204.4 million worldwide box office gross. And it was a big enough hit for Sony Pictures Entertainment to greenlight a sequel which is set for release on March 29, 2024.
Surprisingly, the development and production of the next Ghostbusters movie has been tightly guarded. Very little has been revealed so far, and even the full title has not been confirmed. The current speculation is that it is Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, although there is nothing official to corroborate this.
But Sony Pictures and the Ghostbusters production team have broken the drought, as the film’s official social media channels announced a new teaser coming the next day on November 8th.
The announcement itself does not reveal much, with only the enigmatic “No turning back” tagline, and the Ghostbusters logo slowly getting covered by frost.
No turning back ⚠️ Teaser trailer tomorrow. #Ghostbusters pic.twitter.com/3JXdMg4hbP
— Ghostbusters (@Ghostbusters) November 7, 2023
It should be noted that a post-credits scene in Ghostbusters: Afterlife had Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) bringing back Ecto-1 to the iconic New York firehouse. It’s likely the upcoming movie will deliver the payoff of what this scene implied, which is Winston restarting the business of busting ghosts with a new team. This was also hinted at with the completion of the Ghostbusters 4 script in late 2022.
It is likely that Egon’s grandkids, Phoebe and Trevor Spengler (Mckenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard, respectively) will be part of this new team. Logan Kim’s character Podcast may also be in the roster, though Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon) and Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) are also confirmed to be returning. And of course, Winston will be joined by Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) and Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), as well as Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts).
It has also been confirmed that William Atherton (Walter Peck), the man that according to Dr. Peter Venkman has no dick, is returning to cause trouble once more. Other actors that will be joining the cast are Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Emily Alyn Lind, and James Acaster, although their roles have not been revealed so far.
What are your expectations for the upcoming sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife? Will it touch on elements from Ghostbusters II, the same way Afterlife had callbacks to the first movie? Will Vigo, the Carpathian return as the villain, just as Gozer came back to menace the Ghostbusters?
