New Adventures And Old Ghosts Haunt The New 'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' Trailer

By Andrew Sanford | Film | January 29, 2024 |

By Andrew Sanford | Film | January 29, 2024 |

Everyone wants something different from Ghostbusters. Some people wish the franchise stopped after the first (undeniably best) entry into the property. Others followed the films into the cartoons and happily watched the franchise grow and change over decades of comics and other media. Another loud and obnoxious group didn’t want their boy stuff to have girls in it. The less said about them, the better. Like it or not, another Ghostbusters is coming, with all the baggage the franchise is saddled with.

It’s well-established that I can’t be very objective regarding the Ghostbusters. It’s a franchise I have been enjoying since I was a small child. I now enjoy it with my children. It was an easy way to connect with my older brother. I’ve taken the first movie and adapted it to 30 pages of iambic pentameter and rhyming verse for an NYC theater company. There’s a lot of love for it, even at its admitted low points. So, I expected to like the new trailer, but I will try to be as objective as I can be, regardless.

As someone who followed the Ghostbusters through any medium over the last few decades, the problem at hand in the film feels enticing. The paranormal investigators often went up against monstrous, world-ending ghosts in the cartoon. How that translates to the big screen will remain to be seen, but going in that direction feels like a fun move. Director Gil Kenan has made it clear that The Real Ghostbusters cartoon was an inspiration for the film’s villain.

While the film looks to be exploring some new territory, there are some old favorites as well. Slimer makes a return, which made my kids pretty excited. Annie Potts is suiting up (as her character, Janine, has done so often in the shows and comics). Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson are back in the saddle. Even William Atherton, who once played a Reagan-era EPA rep (I think the context is important), is back now as the Mayor of NYC. To quote the Onion, “Not so easy to find a mayor who doesn’t suck s***, huh?”

Then there’s Bill Murray. I wish I was excited about Peter Venkman’s appearance in the movie. However, it’s impossible for me to look at someone like Murray, whose behavior on set led to a whole film getting shelved, just popping up for fun and feels. Let’s also not forget that Venkman’s “save the cat” moment in the first movie is that he doesn’t take advantage of a possessed Sigourney Weaver. It has aged like ectoplasm, and Murray’s reappearance here adds to the misogynistic baggage that Ghostbusters will forever be strapped to. That’s not even touching the fact that no Ghostbusters movie has done right by people of color, but that’s a discussion for a different time.

I love the Ghostbusters and will be seeing this movie. Elements of it make me deeply excited. Others give me pause. I’ve watched this franchise grow and change for my whole life. Now, I hope that it grows and changes for the better. Bigger adventures and scarier villains are great. I love some silly Paul Rudd. Exorcising some of its old ghosts is a necessity going forward. Despite claims of a fresh start for this film, that won’t be possible if it doesn’t shake off some of its old haunts.