When Jason Reitman brought Ghostbusters back to theaters in 2021 for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, people wondered if it was going to be a one-and-done deal. He was continuing his father Ivan Reitman’s legacy, connecting the original characters to new characters introduced in the new sequel. There were teases in the end credits that Ernie Hudson might expand on the franchise, while bringing it back to New York City. Well, at CinemaCon 2022 in Las Vegas, Sony Pictures Chair of Motion Pictures Tom Rothman confirmed that in addition to Venom and The Equalizer sequels, Sony also will make another Ghostbusters movie.
Sony Pictures Entertainment kicked off CinemaCon 2022 with a complete look at its upcoming slate. After showing off the first reel of David Leitch’s Bullet Train, and the opening 15 minutes of the animated Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Sony Pictures’ Tom Rothman announced that amongst the studio’s plans for future movies, a Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel would be in the mix. Well, we ASSUME it’s a sequel to Afterlife. All that was said was the next Ghostbusters movie. So let’s leave the door open a crack that this could be a spinoff, prequel, or some other approach to the franchise.
We do know that in the end-credit scenes for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) – the financially successful team member – heads back to New York City where he meets with Janine (Annie Potts) and then tours his latest purchase… the firehouse that served as the headquarters for the original Ghostbusters in the first two movies. “I want to be an example of what’s possible,” he states. “I may be a businessman, but I’ll always be a Ghostbuster.”
With those words, and the arrival of Ecto-1 in the bay of the building, we get the impression that Winston is ready to get back in the business of busting ghosts.
Now, let’s turn to some speculation. If I had to guess, I’d say that original Ghostbusters stars Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd are done with the series. Murray definitely. Aykroyd might be able to be coaxed back. He does adore this series. Ghostbusters: Afterlife already addressed the elephant in the firehouse with its controversial cameo appearance, so there’s no going back to that ground. And now that series originator Ivan Reitman has passed, it will be up to his son Jason Reitman to steer the ship.
While out promoting Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Jason Reitman spoke about how exciting it would be to see a universe of Ghostbusters films from all types of voices. So this could be the way that the sequel goes. There has always been the tease that Ghostbusters could franchise the name and have global Ghostbusters battling threats from all corners of the world. Then again, you could also follow Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace as the new recruits who take what they learned battling ghosts in Afterlife and apply it to new stories. We will continue to track the progress on this anticipated movie, and you can scan our guide to upcoming 2022 movies while you are waiting.
