Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
Trivia
Finn Wolfhard did not know he was auditioning for Ghostbusters as the audition sides were purposefully kept to be generic and vague as the movie was being developed under secrecy.
Director Jason Reitman is the son of Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989) director Ivan Reitman.
Paul Rudd announced via social media that he would be joining the cast while standing in front of Hook and Ladder 8 (Ghostbusters HQ) in New York City.
Jason Reitman did appear in Ghostbusters II (1989) as the kid who tells Ray that, according to his dad, the Ghostbusters are "full of crap".
According to Dan Aykroyd, this film will also rely on practical effects.
An official teaser trailer was released on January 16th 2019, the day after the movie was announced. The trailer featured musical cues from Elmer Bernstein's score, as well as the proton pack sound effects from the original films. The trailer shows the severely weathered Ecto-1 in storage as well as some mysterious (possibly ectoplasmic) slime on a fence.
In the film Mckenna Grace who plays Phoebe wears the same glass frames as the late Harold Ramis wore as Dr. Egon Spengler in the original Ghostbusters (1984)
A sequel to the original Ghostbusters movies (Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989)).
Due to the controversy and financial failure of the remake Ghostbusters (2016) (2016), any further sequels for that movie were abandoned. This prompted Sony to instead make a sequel to the original two films.
Finn Wolfhard assumed the '80s-set Stranger Things (2016) in which his character, Mike Wheeler, dressed up as a Ghostbuster for Halloween in Stranger Things: Chapter Two: Trick or Treat, Freak (2017) would take him out of the running and thought that Jason Reitman would not look at his tape because he had already done it in Stranger Things (2016), but Wolfhard ended up getting cast to his surprise because Reitman identified with Wolfhard's audition tape.
The Ecto-1 gunner seat was actually used in the related cartoon series, yet never used in either of the original films.
Bill Murray had been reluctant to reprise his role as Peter Venkman for decades (although he did return for the Ghostbusters video game in 2009). He said in an interview that he finally chose to return because "The script is good. It's got lots of emotion in it. It's got lots of family in it, with through lines that are really interesting. It's gonna work.".
The mine featured in the trailer belongs to the Shandor Mining Co. Ivo Shandor was the architect who designed the building that Dana Barrett lived in on Central Park West.
This film is the fifth time that Dan Aykroyd has played the character of Dr. Raymond Stantz. The other four are Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters II (1989), Casper (1995), and Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009).
Ernie Hudson is credited as "Dr. Winston Zeddmore", indicating that in the time between Ghostbusters II and the new film, Winston may may have earned a Ph.D, which was hinted at in in-game dialogue of The Ghostbusters The Video Game (2009) during the museum level. The video game took place in 1992 (approximately 2 - 3 years after the events in Ghostbusters 2). The other three original Ghostbusters were all previously referred to as Doctors in the original two movies.
Jason Reitman has wanted to work with Paul Rudd since Reitman's short film opened for Rudd's movie Wet Hot American Summer (2001) at Sundance in 2001.
The film was originally set for release on July 10, 2020 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic affecting movie theaters, this film and Morbius, another Sony film set for release that month, were moved to release dates in March 2021
Finn Wolfhard is one of the young stars of Stranger Things (2016) and in one episode, his character Mike Wheeler and his friends dress up as Ghostbusters for Halloween.
The only Ghostbuster not to appear in the film is Egon Spengler. The reason why he doesn't appear in the movie is because Harold Ramis sadly passed away. However, Spengler does factor into the plot since he sets off the events of the film.
At Ghostbusters Fan Fest, Jason Reitman thanked Paul Feig for Ghostbusters (2016) (2016) stating "And, Paul... to express gratitude to you for kicking down the door on what a Ghostbuster and who a Ghostbuster could be. Any time I see a movie where there's a SWAT team, there's that first guy who goes through the door and takes all the damn bullets, and you were the first one through the door and you were the person who allowed me and many other people to make Ghostbusters movies about people of every race, gender, of people around the world. There are all kinds of Ghostbusters movies that I want to see and thank you for making that possible."
Originally set for a summer 2020 release, it has been pushed to Spring 2021 due to Covid19 and social distancing.
"Ghostbusters: Afterlife" was originally scheduled for wide release on July 10, 2020, but was pushed back to March 5, 2021, due to the Coronavirus. The film was again delayed in October 2020, setting a new date for June 11, 2021, after concerns that Q1 2021 won't be a prime time to bring audiences back to theaters.
