Ghostbusters: Afterlife

This page is dedicated to Harold Ramis (November 21, 1944 - February 24, 2014)

"When it comes to [this film], I went in with extreme skepticism; I have to be honest and it surprised me. I think Jason Reitman did an excellent job, and I think the entire cast, especially Mckenna Grace, is really good. And I do think that Ghostbusters fans are gonna have a big, silly grin on their face for most of the movie."

- Chris Stuckmann

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a 2021 American-Canadian fantasy comedy film directed by Jason Reitman from a screenplay by Reitman and Gil Kenan. It is a sequel to Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II and the fourth film overall in the Ghostbusters franchise. In this film, 32 years after the events of Ghostbusters II, a single mom and her two kids arrive in a small town called Summerville, Oklahoma, They begin to discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind.

Plans for the third Ghostbusters film begin to develop, following the release of Ghostbusters II, Dan Aykroyd wrote a script for a third film tentatively titled Ghostbusters III: Hellbent, before it was canceled in 2014 due to the death of Harold Ramis on February 24, 2014. Sony later produced a reboot with all-star female-driven reboot directed by Paul Feig and released in 2016, but due to its controversy among fans and failed at the box office, plans for the sequels of Ghostbusters reboot were canceled by Sony and it was later opting to continue with the original Ghostbusters series instead, with Jason Reitman developed a sequel to the original films.

The film was screened unannounced on August 23, 2021, during the 2021 CinemaCon event in Los Angeles, and was released in the United States on November 19, 2021, after being delayed four times from an original July 2020 date due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film received overall very positive reviews from audiences and even fans alike. The fourth movie is set to be released on December 20, 2023.

Plot
Three decades after the events of Ghostbusters II, two children and their single mother move to Summerville, Oklahoma after inheriting property from their late grandfather. When the town experiences a series of unexplained earthquakes, the children discover their family's link to the original Ghostbusters, who have become something of a myth as many have long-since forgotten the events of the "Manhattan Crossrip of 1984", and the secret legacy that their grandfather left behind.

Why Busting Feels Good Again

 * 1) The movie goes back to when the Ghostbusters series were left off and completely ignores the non-canonically infamous 2016 "reboot".
 * 2) It has a lot of respect for the original Ghostbusters movies.
 * 3) The idea of a Ghostbusters film taking place outside of New York City is very interesting.
 * 4) It has nice nostalgia tone that connects the movie for certain scenes.
 * 5) Despite having a new cast in the third film, we finally bring most of the original cast members from the first two films even Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Dan Aykroyd, and Annie Potts.
 * 6) *In addition, even though the new characters are different, the new characters still retain some of their charisma from the previous films, like the first two movies.
 * 7) On the subject, the acting is pretty great. Mckenna Grace, in particular, does an great and entertaining performance as Phoebe.
 * 8) Amazing visual effects that were major improvement from the franchise, mostly all the shots of Egon and the film's recreation of the original's hardware and phenomena.
 * 9) Nice soundtrack that was performed by Rob Simonsen.
 * 10) * In fact, the theme song is also reused during the end credits.
 * 11) Some of the humor is pretty funny, and amusing, much like the first two Ghostbusters films.
 * 12) Jason Reitman did a fantastic direction throughout the film.
 * 13) It return to form for the franchise. Not only that, some even going as far as to say this finally broke the Sequelitis curse that held onto the franchise for decades.
 * 14) Amazing and magnificent cinematography, which improves up to the first two Ghostbusters films.
 * 15) The mid-credits scene with Dana; not only is it nice to see Signorney Weaver back, it's one of the very rare examples of something that calls out something from a past franchise entry that hasn't aged too well, without coming across as sanctimonious and insulting towards both the past entry and its fans.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Nostalgia Pandering: While it makes sense for the movie to have a nostalgic feel to it, there are many times where the film redoes scenes from the first two movies and also shoves in elements that don't belong. For example:
 * 2) *This includes the tiny Stay-Puft Marshmallow Men, the Gozer Hellhound, the scene showing a zombie in a café, Paul Rudd being chased by the Hellhound (mirroring the chase between Louis and the Hellhound), and even the Crunch bar that Peter gave to Egon, which was just an adlib moment.
 * 3) *The worst of these is the final act as it's essentially the same as the first movie.
 * 4) There are lots of blatant product placements, such as Wal-Mart, YouTube, Crunch, Coca Cola, the movie Child's Play (1988), etc.
 * 5) The film has very few references to Ghostbusters II to the point to where it makes it seem like it didn't even happen.
 * 6) Plot hole: How is it that Trevor knows that someone is in the Hellhound despite never having any experience with them?
 * 7) Just like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the world considers the Ghostbusters myth, which doesn't make sense especially for people to forget a pivotal moment in history that being the Crossrip of 1984 which was only 37 years ago.
 * 8) Although the after-credit scene could be nice to see Harold Ramis again, it shows his ghost form, which is completely unnecessary and is disrespectful when you realize that this ghostly version of Egon is getting a toy made after it.
 * 9) * Rich Evans from Redlettermedia pointed out that it could've worked if it was just the arm and not full shots of him.

Pre-release
When the teaser was released on January 15, 2019 on YouTube, it got tons of likes from the users and the fans of the franchise. On December 9, 2019, The first trailer was released it got even more likes and it was widely praised by the fans of the original Ghostbusters and the viewers, praising for its comeback of the original series that the rebooted franchised failed.

‎Critical and audience response
Although Ghostbusters: Afterlife received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, it received overall very positive reviews from audiences and even fans alike, who claimed it was better than the 2016 reboot, and praise for its performances, respectful tribute to Ramis, Reitman's direction, musical score, and nostalgic tone, while the fan service have been criticized. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 63% of 253 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.10/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Ghostbusters: Afterlife crosses the streams between franchise revival and exercise in nostalgia -- and this time around, the bustin' mostly feels good." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 45 out of 100 based on 46 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an 82% positive score, with 69% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Olly Richards of Empire gave the film a score of four out of five stars, describing it as being "thoroughly lovely" and concluding that it "firmly establishes its own new generation" while being "full of love for the originals". Peter Debruge of Variety described the film as an "unnecessary but enjoyable movie", and added: "The good news for Ghostbusters fans is that Afterlife does nothing to tarnish what has come before". William Bibbiani of TheWrap wrote that "fans of the original—especially the ones who love finding Easter eggs—will probably be satisfied", but added: "Those who enjoyed the 1984 film and who actually wanted a new installment of Ghostbusters to offer something different … may be disappointed, but they can probably settle for Afterlife's slick and straightforward, formulaic craftsmanship." Scott Mendelson of Forbes gave the film a score of 6 out of 10, describing it as a "charming and witty kid-centric coming-of-age fantasy", but criticized its reliance on "pandering" nostalgic fanservice. Kyle Smith of National Review described the film as "a winsome, endearing summer movie for November, a cunningly engineered generational bridge."

Christian Holub of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a grade of C+ and describing it as "a stark reminder of how much of modern American culture consists of excavating the ruins of past glories". Jesse Hassenger of The A.V. Club gave the film a grade of C, writing that it "wants desperately to summon the spirit of watching the first movie back in 1984. It winds up ghoulish in the wrong way." Courtney Howard of IndieWire also gave the film a C, writing that "with all the nostalgia packed into the picture, its own refurbished identity is slightly compromised, functioning as a mimeograph of what came before it". Charles Bramesco of The Guardian gave the film one out of five, describing it as "a damning summary of modern Hollywood's default mode—a nostalgia object, drained of personality and fitted into a dully palatable mold, custom-made for a fandom that worships everything and respects nothing". Kevin Maher of The Times gave the film two out of five, describing it as "a shamefully flat mishmash rehash".

Redlettermedia negatively reviewed the movie calling the movie a hollow nostalgia cash-grab to profit off the brand. They considered all the characters to be "pawns" instead of actual characters just so things could happen.

Box office
As of December 2, 2021, Ghostbusters: Afterlife has grossed $91.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $28 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of over $119.8 million.

In the United States and Canada, Ghostbusters: Afterlife was released alongside King Richard, and was initially projected to gross $28–35 million from 4,315 theaters in its opening weekend. After making $16.6 million on its first day (including $4.5 million from Thursday night previews, $1 million more than the 2016 film), projections were increased to $40 million. It went on to debut to $44 million, topping the box office. The film made $5.3 million on Thanksgiving and then $24.2 million in its second weekend, finishing second behind newcomer Encanto.

Videos
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Trivia

 * Following the release of Ghostbusters II, Dan Aykroyd wrote a script for a third film tentatively titled Ghostbusters III: Hellbent which it was supposed to a plot that involves the ghosts turning New York City into Hellish version of New York, but it had a lot of problems before it was cancelled in 2014 due to the death of Harold Ramis on February 24, 2014.
 * Before this, there was a 2009 game called Ghostbusters: The Video Game which is considered to be the real Ghostbusters III, since it had most of the cast return.
 * The film was originally going to be released on July 10, 2020, before it was delayed four times to November 19, 2021 release due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 * A new line of Hasbro action figures based on the movie was unveiled on the same day the second trailer debuted. It included several characters and costumes that had not been seen in any promotional material for the movie before.