From the moment Paul Feig revealed that he’d be doing a Ghostbusters reboot instead of a traditional sequel, the new movie has done everything that it could to stand on its own. Original stars might be returning for cameos, but they aren’t playing the same characters. In fact, from everything that we know, the events of the original two Ghostbusters movies won’t inform the action of Feig’s pending Ghostbusters. But that doesn’t mean the new trailer that just dropped doesn’t have clever nods and asides around each corner.
The trailer for the new Ghostbusters movie talks about the events from 30 years prior, and shows us the familiar firehouse and Ecto-1. Those are too obvious, though. As rabid Ghostbusters fans, we scoured every frame of Paul Feig’s new footage and found a handful of great Ghostbusters references. Need to see the new trailer one more time? Click here. How many of these did you catch?
Big Twinkie
As part of the new trailer, we see the four new Ghostbusters lining up to face an army of spirits in New York’s Times Square. Scan the digital billboards in the background, though, and you’ll see a Twinkie sign that should trigger this memory:
Indeed, Winston. That is a big Twinkie.
Paranormal Studies Lab
This one zipped by in a blink. Thank you, freeze frame. When Kristen Wiig’s character, Erin, gets introduced as an expert in quantum physics, we see a massive equation on her white board. At the top, you can see a math formula that spells out [Pa/Rar(NoxRM)al S+UD1es / Lab]com. Ring a bell? Yep. It’s the writing on the office door of Dr. Peter Venkmen, at the beginning of the original movie.
That hint also led to a viral Ghostbusters site, that had some new content. Very exciting! Way to slip that one in, Mr. Feig.
Louis Tully
Although almost every original Ghostbusters cast member will find a way back for the reboot, Rick Moranis made it clear that he turned the new movie down. Thankfully, it looks like Melissa McCarthy is making a clear nod to Louis Tully when she wears this apparatus on her head. We don’t yet know what the device does. But seeing it reminds us of Louis Tully after he had been turned into the Keymaster, and was in a rabid search for the Gatekeeper:
What do you think? Coincidental design, or homage to Tully’s skull cap?
Slimer
OK, so, the presence of Slimer is obvious. Even though Paul Feig tried to dispel the rumor that the ghost would reappear, he’s a clear cameo. But there’s more to it then that. As you can see in the above image, it looks like Slimer is materializing near a hot dog cart, with a noticeable yellow umbrella.
Does this mean Slimer will be eating a mouthful of hot dogs as he flies away from the new Ghostbusters crew? It’d be a funny nod.
Ghost Train
Not all of the references spoke directly to Ghostbusters. One, in particular, struck a chord and reminded us of Ghostbusters II. Leslie Jones definitely appears to be the Winston of this new group – a non-scientist who joins because they need a job and know the city. So when you put Leslie’s character, Patty, in a subway tunnel where she experiences a supernatural force, we’re going to think of Winston and the Ghost Train:
OK, tell us. Are there any others that you spotted that we missed? Let us know in the comments section below!
