If you want to watch a new trailer, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! Or maybe Stranger Things.
Sony Pictures just released a trailer for the upcoming Ghostbusters: Afterlife with an all-star cast featuring Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things), Carrie Coon (The Leftovers), Paul Rudd (Avengers: Endgame), and Mckenna Grace (The Haunting of Hill House).
Viewers will likely notice the tonal shift in the series based on the trailer. Coming from director Jason Reitman (Juno, Thank You For Smoking), Afterlife looks more like a coming-of-age-story with supernatural elements rather than the buddy comedy offerings of the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot or the 1980s originals. Ironically, Reitman is the son of the first Ghostbusters‘ director. The younger Reitman even starred as an extra alongside his mother and sister in the original Ghostbusters.
“I’ve always thought of myself as the first Ghostbusters fan, when I was a 6-year-old visiting the set,” Reitman said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “This is the next chapter in the original franchise. It is not a reboot. What happened in the ’80s happened in the ’80s, and this is set in the present day.”
Judging by the trailer, that is an accurate description. There are callbacks to the original films, including a ghost trap, a proton pack, the classic ectomobile, and a very brief glimpse of a ghost that kind of looks like Slimer. Some of the dialogue even references the paranormal showdown in New York, and there are some not-so-subtle hints that Wolfhard and McKenna’s characters are the grandchildren of Egon Spengler (originally portrayed by Harold Ramis, who is now deceased).
While not seen in the new trailer, the original Ghostbusters castmembers – such as Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver, Dan Aykroyd, Ernue Hudson, and Annie Potts – are all set to make appearances in Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
What do you think about the new take on Ghostbusters? You can watch it when it hits theaters on July 10, 2020.