If there’s something strange in the neighborhood, we’ve been told that if there’s anyone to call, it has to be the Ghostbusters. But even with that common knowledge in our minds and hearts, 2020 saw the release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife pushed into the earlier end of 2021, with a March 2021 release date seeming to be set and sealed. However, as 2020 is indeed wild, and 2021 is getting closer by the day, we’ve seen the Jason Reitman directed legacy-quel handed another delay. But the silver lining is the new June release date happens to be a very special occasion for all Ghostbusters fans to celebrate.
With Ghostbusters: Afterlife now sitting on the June 11, 2021 release date it currently holds, this new adventure now comes to us on the exact date director Ivan Reitman’s 1984 classic debuted. Meaning that if you’ve been looking for something to do in honor of the 37th anniversary of Ghostbusters, this news from Deadline has pretty much made your plans for you. And to think, this might not have happened if Jurassic World: Dominion didn’t vacate that very date for a June 10, 2022 debut of its own.
The new delay puts Ghostbusters: Afterlife in a window closer to the original July 10, 2020 release date that this new film originally had lined up in the before times. But as the world’s theatrical window is right now in a bit of a holding pattern, with studios cautiously planning out where their films should go, this move to summer 2021 feels like a totally on brand move for Sony and its Ghostbusters franchise. Plus, this might also have another, added advantage.
As director/Ghostbusters II cameo holder Jason Reitman told the world earlier this year, the delay in Ghostbusters: Afterlife has been a silver lining for another reason: there’s a sequel already being planned to follow this next film’s release. Should the next generation of Ghostbusters catch fire with the world the way that the studio and the Reitman family would like to see, there’s a chance that this hypothetical sequel could be fast tracked into production not too long after the verdict has been handed down by the fans.
Delays in production and releasing of projects scheduled to make their start in 2020 are going to leave gaps in the future of the movie industry. Which means that if more movies like Ghostbusters: Afterlife want to start getting proactive about their potential futures, they may want to start getting on the ball now. As it stands, this is the one franchise that is not only devoid of fear for ghosts, it’s not afraid of 2021 and what it could hold for the box office.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife will be cleanin’ up the town on June 11, 2021; so have your proton packs charged accordingly, and don’t forget to see what else is headed to theaters next year, courtesy of our 2021 release schedule.
