Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a 2024 American supernatural comedy film directed by Gil Kenan from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jason Reitman. It is the sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and the fifth film in the Ghostbusters franchise. The film stars Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Celeste O'Connor, and Logan Kim reprising their roles from Afterlife, alongside Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and William Atherton reprising their characters from the earlier films. Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Emily Alyn Lind, and James Acaster also join the cast. Set three years after the events of Afterlife, the veteran Ghostbusters must join forces with their new recruits to save the world in New York City from a death-chilling god who seeks to build a spectral army.
Following the success of Afterlife, many in the audience wanted a sequel, so Sony Pictures announced the sequel in April 2022, with Reitman returning as director. Co-writer and executive producer Kenan later took over as director from Reitman that December, with the latter staying on as a co-writer and co-producer. That same month, Rudd, Coon, Grace, Wolfhard, O'Connor, Kim, Murray, Aykroyd, Hudson, Potts and Atherton were all confirmed to reprise their roles. New cast members including Nanjiani, Oswalt, Lind and Acaster were announced in March 2023, with principal photography commencing that month and wrapping in June. Dario Marianelli was hired to compose the film's score, replacing Afterlife composer Rob Simonsen. This is the first film in the Ghostbusters franchise to be released following the death of the franchise's co-creator and Jason Reitman's father Ivan Reitman, who posthumously receives credit as a producer alongside his son and Jason Blumenfeld. The film is dedicated to Reitman's memory and celebrates the 40th anniversary of the first film.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire had its world premiere at the AMC 13 Theater at Lincoln Square in New York City on March 14, 2024, and was released in the United States on March 22, by Columbia Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed under $188 million worldwide, making it the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2024.
== Plot ==
Three years after the events in Summerville, Oklahoma, Callie Spengler, her boyfriend Gary Grooberson, her children Trevor and Phoebe, and close friends Lucky Domingo and Podcast, relocate to New York City to aid Winston Zeddemoreand Ray Stantz in reestablishing the Ghostbusters. After the group captures a ghost in Hell's Kitchen, Walter Peck, the Ghostbusters' long-time opponent, threatens to close them down. To appease him, Callie benches underage Phoebe. Upset, Phoebe attempts to control her emotions by playing chess in a nearby park, where she encounters and befriends Melody, a ghost chess prodigy, who died in a fire.
Meanwhile, Ray and Podcast are collecting cursed objects for examination. Nadeem Razmaadi visits and sells them a strange brass orb with ritual markings belonging to his late grandmother. Ray suspects it is an apotropaic trap. After he tests its PKE levels, the orb unleashes a psionic pulse, which damages the ecto-containment unit  – dangerously near capacity  – at the Ghostbusters' firehouse headquarters. Winston takes the orb to his privately owned paranormal research center, run by his associate, Dr. Lars Pinfield. Using an experimental extraction device to harnessing spiritual energy, Pinfield is unable to extract anything from the orb. To learn more, he joins Trevor and Lucky to see Nadeem, who reveals the orb was kept hidden by his grandmother within a brass-lined chamber. Peter Venkman, brought in to help, discovers Nadeem has latent pyrokinetic powers. 
Meanwhile, Ray, accompanied by Phoebe and Podcast, visits Dr. Hubert Wartzki, a research librarian at the New York Public Library. Wartzki explains the orb was built by four sorcerers called the Firemasters to imprison Garraka, a demonic god who sought to conquer the world with a ghost army, feeding on negative emotions to lower temperatures to absolute cold. They learn Nadeem's grandmother was descended from one of the Firemasters who prevented Garraka from accidentally escaping the orb in 1904 during a mock ritual conducted by members of the Manhattan Adventurers' Society, whom Garraka froze to death. Garraka was confined in the orb due to being vulnerable to copper alloys combined with fire and lacking his devil horns as a power source. 
When the trio attempt to stop a ghost from stealing an audio recording of the club's ritual, Peck exploits Phoebe's involvement to shut down the Ghostbusters. After an argument with Gary and her mom, Phoebe runs away and takes Melody to Winston's research center. She uses his extraction equipment to project herself as a ghost for two minutes so the pair can physically interact. Melody reveals she had been secretly working with Garraka, offering to free him in exchange for passage to the afterlife. Forcing Phoebe to recite the ritual chant, Garraka escapes, locates his horns and freezes the city. Realizing Garraka will free the ghosts in the containment unit, the Ghostbusters gather to defend their headquarters, aided by Nadeem, who dons his grandmother's brass armor and attempts to master his powers. 
Garraka overpowers them and breaches the containment unit. Phoebe reconfigures her proton pack with copper alloys to strengthen it; Melody, betrayed by Garraka, atones by helping Nadeem utilize his powers to weaken Garraka. Ray entraps the god by utilizing the ruptured containment unit. Melody reconciles with Phoebe before departing for the afterlife to reunite with her family. As the city thaws, the Ghostbusters are hailed as heroes, with Peck forced to support the team and reinstate Phoebe. The Ghostbusters begin pursuing escaped ghosts across New York City. 
== Cast ==
== Production ==
===Development===
Following the release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife in November 2021, Dan Aykroyd expressed interest in having the surviving cast of the original Ghostbusters team reprise their roles in up to three sequels. In April 2022, it was announced that a sequel to Afterlife was in early development at Sony Pictures.
In June 2022, the film was confirmed by director Jason Reitman under the working title Firehouse. That same month, it was announced that the sequel would take place in New York City. On October 5, 2022, Mckenna Grace announced that she would reprise her role. The following month, Ernie Hudson revealed he read a script for the film.
In December 2022, it was announced that Gil Kenan would take over as director from Reitman, who still remains as a writer and producer. It was also announced that Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard and Carrie Coon would return. In March 2023, it was announced that Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, James Acaster and Emily Alyn Lind had been cast in the film. Lind's role was establishing during pre-production in secrecy. She met Reitman, Kenan, and casting director John Papsidera prior to filming, and was not aware she had the role shortly prior to filming.
According to Nanjiani, the filmmakers drew inspiration from the animated series The Real Ghostbusters (1986–1991), noting they "wanted to make a long episode of the animated series".
Instead of a Motorola MT-500 as seen in previous iterations, the controversial Baofeng UV-5R ham radio was used as a prop.
===Filming===
Principal photography began on March 20, 2023, in London, under the working title Firehouse, with Eric Steelberg serving as the cinematographer. On April 25, 2023, Hudson indicated that Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Annie Potts would reprise their roles from previous Ghostbusters movies in the film; Aykroyd confirmed he would return for the sequel in June 2023.
Filming was spotted in New York City, where Casey Neistat was caught filming a stunt scene in a video posted on June 7, 2023, while documenting the effects of the 2023 Canadian wildfires in New York City. Filming wrapped on June 23.
== Music ==
On January 18, 2024, Dario Marianelli was confirmed to compose the film's score, replacing Afterlife composer Rob Simonsen. This marked Marianelli's second collaboration with Gil Kenan after A Boy Called Christmas (2021). He recorded his score on the Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage in the John Williams Music Building on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City. Peter Bernstein returned as score consultant, after doing so for Afterlife.
On March 7, 2024, Japanese girl group Atarashii Gakko! released a track called "Ghostbusters: Frozen Summer" as a collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan. It samples Ray Parker Jr.'s song.
== Release ==
===Theatrical===
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire had its world premiere in New York City on March 14, 2024, and was released by Sony Pictures Releasing on March 22, 2024. It was previously scheduled to be released on December 20, 2023, but was delayed to March 29, 2024, (taking over the original release date of Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse) in July 2023 another film made by Sony Pictures due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, before being moved up a week to March 22.
===Marketing===
On November 8, 2023, Sony released the first teaser trailer, which officially revealed the title as Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, as well as revealing the synopsis for the film.
===Home media===
In April 2021, Sony signed deals with Netflix and Disney for the rights to their 2022 to 2026 film slate, following the films' theatrical and home media windows. Netflix signed for exclusive "pay 1 window" streaming rights, which is typically an 18-month window and included Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and past Ghostbusters films. Disney signed for "pay 2 window" rights for the films, which would be streamed on Disney+ and/or Hulu as well as broadcast on Disney's linear television networks.
== Reception ==
===Box office===
, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has grossed $107.4 million in the United States and Canada and $80.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $188 million.
In the United States and Canada, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was released alongside Immaculate and Late Night with the Devil, and was projected to gross $43–45 million from 4,345 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $16 million on its first day, including $4.7 million from Thursday night previews, slightly topping Afterlifes $4.5 million. It went on to debut to $45 million, landing between the opening weekends of Ghostbusters ($46 million in 2016) and Afterlife ($44 million in 2021), topping the box office, and pushing the Ghostbusters franchise past the $1 billion mark. In its second weekend the film made $15.7 million (a drop of 65%), finishing second behind newcomer Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
===Critical response===
 It is the lowest-rated installment in the franchise on the site. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it an 80% overall positive score, with 64% saying they would definitely recommend the film.
Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph gave the film one star out of five, writing: "There is a noxious undead pong emanating from this latest entry in the 1980s franchise, which is now being necromantically sustained through force of sheer commercial desperation, and nothing else." Wendy Ide of The Observer awarded the movie two stars out of five, lamenting that the "unoriginal" film does not make the most of its young cast. Jake Wilson of The Age gave it 2.5/5 stars, writing: "Aykroyd and Grace are the soul of the thing, to whatever degree a soul exists. At this point, Aykroyd has shed any pretence of ironic distance, emerging as the mournful weirdo he surely always was." CNN's Brian Lowry called it "a very busy movie that lacks the emotional hook of its predecessor, while spending too much time on the wrong characters in a way that yields a rather lifeless, chilly affair."
Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, writing that it "carries the same endearingly goofy, science-nerd spirit of the first film and delivers a delightful balance of slimy ghost stuff, sharp one-liners, terrific VFX and a steady stream of callbacks to various characters, human and otherwise, from the 1984 movie." Jake Coyle of the Associated Press gave it 2.5/4 stars, saying that it was "A significant upgrade from Afterlife" and "a breezier, more serviceable sequel that has a modest charm as an '80-tinged family adventure."
== Future ==
In February 2024, Gil Kenan revealed that ideas for multiple future films in the Ghostbusters franchise had been discussed.
== External links ==
*
* 
== References ==
Category:2024 films
Category:Films starring Paul Rudd
Category:Films starring Carrie Coon
Category:Films starring Finn Wolfhard
Category:Films starring Mckenna Grace
Category:Films starring Kumail Nanjiani
Category:Films starring Patton Oswalt
Category:Films starring Celeste O'Connor
Category:Films starring Logan Kim
Category:Films starring Emily Alyn Lind
Category:Films starring James Acaster
Category:Films starring Bill Murray
Category:Films starring Dan Aykroyd
Category:Films starring Annie Potts
Category:Films starring William Atherton
Category:2024 comedy films
Category:2024 fantasy films
Category:2020s fantasy comedy films
Category:2020s American films
Category:2020s English-language films
Category:2020s monster movies
Category:2020s ghost films
Category:2020s teen comedy films
Category:2020s coming-of-age comedy films
Category:2020s chase films
Category:American coming-of-age comedy films
Category:American chase films
Category:American sequel films
Category:Bron Studios films
Category:Climate change films
Category:Columbia Pictures films
Category:Films about astral projection
Category:Films about families
Category:Films about friendship
Category:Films about mass murder
Category:Films about mind control
Category:Films about near-death experiences
Category:Films affected by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike
Category:Films directed by Gil Kenan
Category:Films distributed by Columbia Pictures
Category:Films produced by Jason Reitman
Category:Films produced by Ivan Reitman
Category:Films set in 1904
Category:Films set in 2024
Category:Films set in New York City
Category:Films shot in London
Category:Films shot in Liverpool
Category:Films shot in New York City
Category:Films scored by Dario Marianelli
Category:Films with screenplays by Gil Kenan
Category:Films with screenplays by Jason Reitman
Category:Ghostbusters films
Category:IMAX films
Category:4DX films
Category:Summer in culture
Category:Films