Overview
It's called Ghostbusters, not franchisebusters — so, four decades after the initial supernatural comedy flick in the series proved a huge hit, of course the saga is still tackling ghouls on the big screen. There was a 27-year pause between 1989's Ghostbusters II and 2016's women-led, excellent and wrongly maligned Paul Feig-helmed Ghostbusters, but then came 2021's Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Next up: its sequel Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
As both the initial teaser back in 2023 and the just-dropped full trailer show, familiar faces are everywhere in the fifth Ghostbusters movie — and from past features both recent and classic. Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, McKenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson: they're all back, teaming up to take on an ancient force that's trying to unleash a second Ice Age.
Rudd (Only Murders in the Building) returns as Gary Grooberson, while Coon (The Gilded Age), McKenna Grace (Crater) and Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things) are back as Callie, Phoebe and Trevor Spengler. Yes, they're the daughter and grandchildren of the late Harold Ramis' Egon Spengler, who became initiated in the family business when they inherited his old farmhouse in Afterlife.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire reverses the last flick's swap, which centred around that eerie abode. So, rather than unfurling in Oklahoma, it returns the series to New York. There, summer is proceeding as normal until an unseasonable chill kicks in. The reason for the plummeting temperatures isn't any old blast of cooler weather, either, which is where the Ghostbusters come in.
Also in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire's cast: Kumail Nanjiani (Welcome to Chippendales), Patton Oswalt (What We Do in the Shadows), Celeste O'Connor (A Good Person) and Logan Kim (The Walking Dead: Dead City), alongside OGs Murray (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), Aykroyd (Zombie Town) and Hudson (Quantum Leap), plus Annie Potts (Young Sheldon).
A certain firehouse pops up as well, as does Slimer, an army of ghosts, possessed possessions, rising supernatural attacks and a new paranormal research centre.
The latest film sees Gil Kenan (A Boy Called Christmas) directing. After helming Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Jason Reitman (Tully, The Front Runner) — who is the son of Ivan Reitman, who directed the first two movies — co-writes the script this time around.
Check out the full trailer for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire below:
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire opens in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, March 21, 2024.