Grab your Proton packs, fire up the Ecto-1, and try not to cross the streams – Ghostbusters is back. Following the arrival of a first poster and some fresh plot details at the end of last week, the first Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer has landed – with all kinds of familiar sights, and plenty of new ones. Get ready to meet a new generation of ‘busters – a much younger one, that looks set to have some kind of connection with the original gang.
Just over 25 years since the original Ghostbusters, it seems that Afterlife will focus on a group of kids who have no knowledge of the original New York exploits – but soon come to inherit all the gear. In particular, we’re talking about McKenna Grace’s curly-haired Phoebe and her older brother, Finn Wolfhard’s Trevor, who move with their mother Callie (Carrie Coon) into a spooky old Oklahoma farmhouse she inherits. Inside are ghosts of the past – including literal ones, in the form of all the old Ghostbusting gear. And it seems that the ghouls inside the traps might not stay that way for long.
Unlike Paul Feig’s 2016 reboot, this one takes place in the same continuity as the original two Ghostbusters movie – and, in a neat bit of symmetry from the plot about a family inheritance of Ghostbusters gear, sees writer-director Jason Reitman take over from his father Ivan Reitman. What could the new family’s connection to the old gang be? Considering Phoebe’s look, with those round glasses and that thick mop of hair, could they possibly be descended from the late Harold Ramis’s Egon? Either way, it seems the kids are the ones taking up the Ghostbusting this time around. Here’s hoping it makes them – and the audience – feel good.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife hits UK cinemas on 10 July 2020.