The marketing for director Jason Reitman‘s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which reaches theatres on November 19th, has made it clear that the film is packed with nods to the original Ghostbusters (watch it it HERE). Not only are cast members Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts back as their original characters, but we’re also going to be meeting the family of the late Harold Ramis’s character Egon, and we’ve got Terror Dogs and miniature Stay Puft marshmallow men. But that’s not the only Ghostbusters property it will contain references to: fans have spotted a ghost that was previously featured in the Real Ghostbusters cartoon, which ran from 1986 to 1991.
That ghost is called the Bug-Eye Ghost, and you can see the Ghostbusters: Afterlife version of it 37 seconds into the trailer embedded above. Bug-Eye Ghost was also part of the Kenner Real Ghostbusters toyline back in the day, and was brought back as part of Hasbro’s recent Kenner Classics line. So if you liked that toy or the ghost’s appearance on Real Ghostbusters, Afterlife has a treat for you. The eagle-eyed fans at Ghostbusters News had even spotted Bug-Eye Ghost before yesterday’s release of that trailer.
Written by Reitman and Gil Kenan, Ghostbusters: Afterlife stars Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, and Mckenna Grace as
a family with single mom Callie and her two kids, Trevor and Phoebe, who move into a beaten-down farmhouse in Oklahoma only to discover that there’s something strange in the neighborhood. Unexplained quakes shake the town. There’s an old mine nearby that bears the name of Ivo Shandor, who built the Manhattan high-rise in the 1984 film that channeled the forces of evil.
Paul Rudd plays “a local teacher who’s been documenting the unexplained phenomena, befriending Callie and her kids, and helping make the connection between the current weirdness and the events of three decades before”. Also in the cast are Celeste O’Connor, Logan Kim, Bokeem Woodbine, Tracy Letts, and Oliver Cooper.
Jason Reitman’s father Ivan Reitman (who directed the first Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II – watch that one HERE) produced Ghostbusters: Afterlife, with Aykroyd serving as executive producer alongside Jason Blumenfeld, Michael Beugg, Aaron L. Gilbert, Jason Cloth, and Kenan.
Our own Chris Bumbray already had the chance to watch Ghostbusters: Afterlife and gave the film an 8/10 review you can read at THIS LINK.