It's pretty remarkable when you think about it just how popular the Ghostbusters franchise is. Originally it was only made up of a pair of movies and only one of them was good. But that movie was so good, and it came out at just the right time, so a generation fell in love with it. Today, the Ghostbusters franchise is looking for new life, and it will find it in an unexpected, but very welcome place this year, as Universal Studios has announced that Ghostbusters will theme one of the upcoming mazes at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando Resort.
The new maze will be based on the original Ghostbusters film and will include locations familiar to fans, like the Ghostbusters Fire House home, the New York Public Library, and the Temple of Gozer. Guests will also come face to face with popular ghosts and monsters from the film like Slimer, and even Gozer him/her/itself, in the guise of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
Halloween Horror Nights is one of the biggest events of the year at the Universal theme parks . Each year, multiple mazes are constructed to take guests through a variety of different experiences. Whether these mazes are themed after classic movie monsters, more modern material, or entirely original content, they're almost always worth checking out.
This is the first time that Ghostbusters has made an appearance at Halloween Horror Nights in their own maze, which makes this announcement especially awesome for fans. Theme parks are all about feeling like you're part of your favorite stories, and while this isn't the Ghostbusters first appearance ever at a Universal theme park, it is one of the first times that fans will be able to walk in the footsteps of their favorite Ghostbusters.
In addition to the new Ghostbusters maze, the Netflix series Stranger Things will be getting its second Halloween Horror Nights maze. This one will follow events of the second and third season of the series. Universal Orlando Resort will be getting original mazes like Yeti: Terror of the Yukon and Universal Monsters. Universal Studios Hollywood will see Frankenstein and the Wolfman as well as The Walking Dead.
We're still about two months out from the Halloween Horror Nights event and both theme parks have several more mazes to announce, so if Ghostbusters isn't enough to sway you, though I can't imagine why not, there's a lot more yet to come.
If the maze is a hit, there's a good chance we'll see more from the Ghostbusters in the future. In addition to the original sequel, there's a brand new Ghostbusters movie currently in production that could probably become a maze as early as next year, and who knows, we could even see something based on the reboot if the demand is there.
It will be interesting to see just what sort of a tone the new Ghostbusters maze will take. While there's plenty in the films that can be scary, the movies are, ultimately, comedies, so one assumes that this maze might make guests laugh a bit more than some of the others. That's not a bad thing. Perhaps a maze or two with a lighter tone will be a nice break from the rest of the attractions trying to scare the hell out of you.
Halloween Horror Nights begins at Universal Studios Hollywood on September September 13 and runs through November 3. It starts up at Universal Orlando Resort September 6 and runs through November 2.
