Ghostbusters (franchise) - Wikipedia

Ghostbusters story chronology
Original continuity
Ghostbusters (1984) Ghostbusters II (1989) Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed (2022–2023) Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)
Ghostbusters film/animated continuity
Ghostbusters (1984) The Real Ghostbusters (Season 1–4) Ghostbusters II (1989) The Real Ghostbusters (Season 5–7) Extreme Ghostbusters (1997)
The Video Game continuity
Ghostbusters (1984) Ghostbusters II (1989) Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009)
Reboot continuity
Ghostbusters (2016) Ghostbusters 101 (2017) Ghostbusters: COMICS (2017–2018) Ghostbusters Crossing Over (2018)

Film	U.S. release date	Director	Screenwriters	Producer(s)
Original series
Ghostbusters	June 8, 1984 (1984-06-08)	Ivan Reitman	Dan Aykroyd & Harold Ramis	Ivan Reitman
Ghostbusters II	June 16, 1989 (1989-06-16)
Ghostbusters: Afterlife	November 19, 2021 (2021-11-19)	Jason Reitman	Gil Kenan & Jason Reitman
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire	March 22, 2024 (2024-03-22)	Gil Kenan		Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman & Jason Blumenfeld
Reboot
Ghostbusters	July 15, 2016 (2016-07-15)	Paul Feig	Paul Feig & Katie Dippold	Amy Pascal & Ivan Reitman

Original series

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Ghostbusters (1984)

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Ghostbusters, the first film in the series, is a 1984 sci-fi comedy film about three New York City scientists. After they are fired from Columbia University, they start their own business investigating and capturing ghosts. Starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts, and Ernie Hudson, it was released in the United States on June 8, 1984. It had been made on a US$30 million budget, but it grossed approximately US$240 million in the United States and over US$50 million abroad during its theatrical run, more than the domestic gross of the second Indiana Jones installment, making it the most successful film in America that year (after re-releases), and one of the most successful comedies of the 1980s. The American Film Institute ranked it 28th in its list of the top 100 comedies of all time.[2] IGN voted Ghostbusters the greatest comedy ever in 2005.[3] The TV Channel Bravo ranked Ghostbusters number 28 on their 100 Funniest Movies list in 2006.[4]

Ghostbusters II (1989)

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The second film, Ghostbusters II, was released on June 16, 1989. Taking place five years after the first, the Ghostbusters have lost their credibility due to the amount of property damage they have caused, but identify a new threat to New York City after discovering a river of ectoplasmic slime that reacts to the great deal of negative emotions within the city. Murray, Aykroyd, Ramis, Hudson, Weaver, Potts, and Moranis reprised their roles from the first film, and were joined by Peter MacNicol and Wilhelm von Homburg, among others. After the success of the first film and the animated series The Real Ghostbusters, Columbia Pictures pressed the producers to make a sequel. Aykroyd, Ramis, and Reitman were uncomfortable with this at first, as the original film was intended to be conclusive and they wished to work on other projects. Eventually, they agreed and created a script. The sequel grossed US$215 million against a US$37 million budget, but received mixed reviews compared to the first film.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

edit Main article: Ghostbusters: Afterlife

The third film, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, was released on November 19, 2021.[5] Taking place thirty-two years after the second, the Ghostbusters have disbanded and their legacy is mostly forgotten. A single mother and her children move to an Oklahoma farm they inherited from her estranged father, Egon Spengler, who went on a mission to prevent an apocalypse. The film was directed by Jason Reitman, son of original director Ivan Reitman, with a script co-written by himself and Gil Kenan, while Ivan Reitman served as a producer. The cast includes Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon and Paul Rudd,[6][7][8][9] and were joined by Logan Kim and Celeste O'Connor, among others. Additionally, Murray, Aykroyd, Hudson, Potts and Weaver appear in supporting roles, reprising their characters from the first two films. The film received mixed reviews, but was a commercial success, earning $204 million on a $75 million budget.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

edit Main article: Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

The fourth film, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, was released on March 22, 2024. Taking place three years after the third, the Spengler family decide to leave Summerville, Oklahoma, and go back to where it all started – the iconic New York City firehouse – and help the original Ghostbusters, who have developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level. But when the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.[10] The film was directed by Gil Kenan, with a script co-written by himself and Jason Reitman, while Reitman served as a producer. Grace, Wolfhard, Coon, Rudd, Kim and O'Connor reprise their roles from Afterlife, and were joined by Kumail Nanjiani, and Patton Oswalt, among others. Murray, Aykroyd, Hudson, Potts and Atherton appear in supporting roles, reprising their characters from the previous films. The film received mixed reviews, and grossed $202 million on a $100 million budget.

Reboot

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Ghostbusters (2016)

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The 2016 film, Ghostbusters, is a relaunch of the franchise which takes place in an alternate universe,[11][12][13][14] featuring a new cast of characters, but follows a similar narrative as the original film. A group of eccentric researchers make discoveries within paranormal incidents with their intentions being to detect and capture ghosts, and protect New York City from those spirits. The film principally features a new cast, starring Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon as the all-female Ghostbuster team, along with Chris Hemsworth as their male receptionist.[15][16] Additionally, Aykroyd, Murray, Weaver, Hudson, and Potts all had small cameo roles. The film was released on July 15, 2016, as Ghostbusters, with the home media released being rebranded to Ghostbusters: Answer the Call.[17] It received mixed reviews, and grossed US$229 million off a US$144 million budget, after accounting for marketing, a $70 million loss.[18]

Future

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Untitled animated film

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In October 2015, Ivan Reitman announced that he was producing an animated film for Sony Pictures Animation, with Fletcher Moules attached to the project as both animator and director.[19][20] The film will tell a story from the perspective of ghosts.[21] The film would begin production following the completion and release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife.[22] The project was reconfirmed in June 2022, with Jennifer Kluska and Chris Prynoski as directors and Brenda Hsueh as the writer of the film.[23] In December 2024, it was announced that Kris Pearn would serve as director, with the project set to release on Netflix.[24]

Potential spin-off film

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In December 2014, the Sony Pictures hack revealed that an action comedy spin-off film, centered around another team of Ghostbusters was in development. Channing Tatum, Reid Carolin, and the Russo brothers pitched the movie to the studio, and was confirmed to supplement and be in development simultaneously with Paul Feig's Ghostbusters: Answer the Call, and intended to be the first installment in a series of films inspired by Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy. Tatum was being courted to star in the film, with Chris Pratt viewed as his potential co-star.[25] By March 2015, the film was officially confirmed to be in active-development.[25] Written by Drew Pearce, the film was seen as an expansion of the Ghostbusters multiverse. Ivan Reitman described its development as being in line with the plans and production bible that they had created thirty years prior during the original film; the purpose of the project was "to build the Ghostbusters into the universe it always promised it might become". Joe and Anthony Russo were in early negotiations to direct the film. Ivan Reitman, the Russo brothers, Channing Tatum, Reid Carolin, and Peter Kiernan were to serve as producers.[26] By June however, Tatum confirmed that the project had been delayed in favor of other projects.[27]

In February 2022, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller announced that they had been attached to the project during its development stages, also saying that there is still potential at the studio that the film will be green-lit in the future.[28]

Untitled Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire sequel

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In February 2024, Kenan revealed that ideas for multiple future films in the Ghostbusters franchise had been discussed.[29][30] Kenan specifically mentioned the Mini-Pufts storyline as something he and Reitman would like to expand upon. The Mini-Pufts are featured in the film's post-credits scene.[31]

In October 2024, Kenan confirmed that a sequel to Frozen Empire was in the works.[32]