Exactly four years and a couple months since we were surprised with a bombshell teaser trailer for a new Ghostbusters film that eventually became Ghostbusters: Afterlife, cameras are once again rolling on a live-action Ghostbusters feature film. This will be the fourth film in the main continuity of the Ghostbusters universe, but will join Ghostbusters: Answer the Call as the fifth film in the franchise. For brevity, let’s just refer to it as Ghostbusters 4 from this point forward. For those of us old folks, it’s tough to believe after such a long drought of Ghostbusters content that we’re now talking about a fifth film on the way.
Details and plot continue to be under strict Containment Unit lockdown, but the film directed by Gil Kenan and produced by Jason Reitman will be filmed in the UK, though that does not necessarily mean the action takes place across the pond. First revealed at Ghostbusters Day under the working title Firehouse, the focus of the story will once again return to New York City and the statuesque headquarters of it all. Eagle-eyed Londoners spotted the Ecto-1 arriving overseas several weeks ago, and Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan posted a teaser image of themselves on a soundstage where the Ghostbusters HQ firehouse is being recreated from the ground up. The Ladder 23 filming location in Los Angeles is currently under heavy renovations for a community center and the Hook and Ladder No. 8 (exterior filming location) in New York City is most likely on alert for filming at any moment’s notice.
Production is expected to continue through June of this year.
(Production still from Ghostbusters: Afterlife)
Cast has yet to be officially announced but it stands to reason that Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson will return along side the newcomers from Afterlife and perhaps some new faces. The creators of the current and still popular-running Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed console game have informed us that the events and characters seen in their cutscenes and story are considered “tangentially canon,” so while some themes may carry over from that game, there’s a clean slate and the sky is the limit for what we may be seeing with the film’s release.
Outstanding Director of Photography Eric Steelberg, who lensed Ghostbusters: Afterlife and spent meticulous research and detail to assure the film looked and felt like Ivan Reitman and Laszlo Kovacs’ original 1984 film returns behind the camera. Passionate Special Makeup Effect and Creature Designer Arjen Tuten returns to lend his talents to the new film as does VFX Producer Kerry Joseph, who worked on the previous film. Veteran producer Jason Blumenfeld returns but yields the line producer floor to UK-based Jamie Lengyel. Producers Helen Estabrook, Erica Mills, and Ghost Corps’ ever-watchful Eric Reich all also return for the new film.
(Production still from Ghostbusters: Afterlife)
As more of the amazing craftspeople who work on the new film are revealed, we’ll be detailing them here on GBHQ and diving into what their addition to the film may bring.
It will be a race to the finish, as the film is still slated to release on December 20th of this year. More as it is revealed, stay tuned here to the GBHQ main page, our social channels, and keep an open ear as a certain audio formatted program may be returning in the near future! Definitely exciting times as a Ghostbusters fan, plenty of fun things on the horizon. Strap into that gunner seat and hold on tight.
