Columbia Pictures
2024 differentiate the 40th anniversary of 1984’sGhostbusters . In the years since that landmark American drollery was released , the franchise that sprouted from it has bring about four big - screen subsequence , include a Paul Feig - direct reboot starring an all - female tether mould . compare to so many of the other popular , ostensibly never - stop Hollywood franchise that have emerged over the preceding four 10 , that ’s not actually that many sequel . The Ghostbusters franchisehas , nonetheless , changed a spate over the years .
For a long metre , the franchise ’s film side repose dormant . Despite repeated attempts to get it off the ground again , it was n’t until Feig ’s 2016 reboot that any big - projection screen follow - up to 1989’sGhostbusters IIwas free . Five years afterward , the reboot ’s timeline was vacate whenGhostbusters : Afterlife , a quasi - unmediated sequel toGhostbusters II , hit theaters . The film , place byGhostbustersdirector Ivan Reitman ’s boy , Jason , relocate the franchise from New York City to Oklahoma , and that was n’t the only major variety it made .
Columbia Pictures
What made the original Ghostbusters so appealing (and successful)
Released over 30 years afterGhostbusters IIand most a decade after the 2014 destruction of originalGhostbustersco - writer and star Harold Ramis , 2021’sGhostbusters : Afterlifeis a bequest sequel in every sensory faculty of the musical phrase . Not only is it a photographic film made in the long shadow of its widely beloved , decades - old predecessors , but it ’s also deeply concerned with the lasting bequest of both the originalGhostbustersand the contribution of its creators . It focalise on the descendants of Ramis ’ Egon Spengler , and the doer ’s real - living end is weaved into the text of the film — so much so that Reitman and company literally impart in a CGI ghost of Ramis to help bring through the day inAfterlife‘s climax .
The tastefulness of that originative conclusion is still up for debate . Beyond the lengths it goes to address the legacy of the originalGhostbusters , though , the celluloid also roots itself in the perspective of Egon ’s teenage granddaughter , Phoebe ( Mckenna Grace ) . In doing so , Afterlifeabandons the adult reality of bothGhostbustersandGhostbusters IIin favor of telling a come - of - age story that , while compelling in parts , only makes the movie palpate that much more divorced from the franchise ’s original , sarcastic sense of humor . 1984’sGhostbustersis , after all , little more than an extremely goofy funniness about a radical of middle - aged man who make a support working suitably bizarre Book of Job .
The film is elevated by the performances of its surpassing stamp and Ivan Reitman ’s incredible tonal control , but its tale aspiration are broken , to say the least . The same goes forGhostbusters II , which is why it ’s been truly jarring to see Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan take the franchise in such a unlike charge over the preceding three year . Ghostbusters : Afterlifeis a crime syndicate dramedy that , thanks to its Lord’s Day - burn Oklahoma aesthetic and grand example of sci - fi spectacle , looks more like a Steven Spielberg - produce Amblin output than it does anything else . Its sequel , this year’sGhostbusters : Frozen Empire , sense closer in both tone and spirit to the franchise ’s first two films , but there are still coming - of - age , class - oriented aspects that seem to subsist in lineal oppositeness to the series ’ origins .
It’s time for Ghostbusters to grow up again
The originalGhostbustersis an absurd supernatural sci - fi clowning about a trio of , allow ’s face it , half-wit who become grinder in spite of their own hang - ups and shared sound lack of ego - knowingness . There was and still is beauty in both its simplicity and insignificance . Forty years later , the franchise has become a lot bigger and more ambitious , and yet it feel shallower than it used to . By relate itself so intensely with its own office in pop culture story , the series has bring on a tier of narrative system of weights it was never design to carry .
Based on most available system of measurement , it seems like longtime fans do n’t mind the franchise ’s recent shift key in step , aesthetical , and perspective . When you look at the differences betweenGhostbustersandAfterlifeandFrozen Empire , though , it ’s hard not to squint your eyes at least a little . Is this what time does to all franchise ? Or is the modern province of fandom so vivid and flash now that no motion picture or TV show can run a sure duration of time without becoming a metatextual comment on its own imagine wideness ?
Ghostbusters : Frozen Empireis now playing in field .
