‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ dropped a new trailer and I am optimistically hopeful. From the looks of the trailer it looks like a lot of fun reminiscent of the original ‘Ghostbusters’. ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife stars Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Annie Potts, and Paul Rudd, with Sigourney Weaver, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Bill Murray.
The character of Egon Spengler is an essential key to ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’
From the moment the trailer opens you get a sense of the respect and homage to the now deceased Egon Spengler character originally played by Harold Ramis who passed away in 2014. In an exclusive article from IGN, According to Jason Reitman, who directed and co-wrote ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’, they wanted to make the show about family. The first movie revolved around a group of scientist friends who wanted to get into business together so ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ needed to be about family, specifically the Spengler family and why they are disconnected.
“Historically, Ghostbusters movies were always about people going into business. It was about people starting a ghostbusting business together,” Reitman, son of the original two films’ director, Ivan Reitman, told IGN. “I suppose I knew immediately from the beginning that I wanted to make a movie about a family. This is a movie about the Spengler family. And the Spengler family is disconnected. This movie is about why,” Reitman said.
Harold Ramis along with Dan Aykroyd co-wrote the original ‘Ghostbusters’ movie and it was nice to see that the movie pays a lot of respect to the
character of Egon Spengler. As we get further along in the trailer, we see things from the original movies that appear in ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ that made the original two films so much fun. From the P.K.E meter(Psychokinetic energy), the ghost trap, the Ecto-1, Slimer(now called Muncher), and the stay puft marshmallow man, we get a sense of how much the original movies meant to Jason Reitman:
“Certainly, my connection with Ghostbusters always had to do with this ephemera. It was the packs, it was the traps, it was the car. And a lot of this film for me was the thrill of what it would be like to discover all these things in your home.”
Jason Reitman is a Fan of the franchise
Jason Reitman was only a kid, and on the set, when his father Ivan Reitman directed the original Ghostbusters movies. You can tell during this interview with IGN how important this franchise is to him and how much it means to the fans.
“I’ve kept it a very close secret to my heart. And part of that is because I feel like I’m not really carrying the Spengler story, but I’m carrying my own family story,” Reitman said. “It’s been a long wait for me, as it has been for anyone who has anticipated the next Ghostbusters film. And I’m just thrilled to share it with everybody. It’s a movie that was made by a family about a family. My father and I cannot wait for you to see this in theaters.”
Jason Reitman sounds like a fan and I hope this translates to the big screen. There will be no sequel that can top the original ‘Ghostbusters’ movie but I hope that ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ will come very close. The magic of going to the movies and the fun and escapism that went along with that have been sorely missed and maybe, just maybe ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ will make us feel like we did in 1984 when Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore did fighting off the Stay Puft marshmallow Man.
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