| Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Gil Kenan |
| Written by |
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| Based on | |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Eric Steelberg |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Dario Marianelli |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Release dates |
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Running time | 115 minutes[5] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $100 million[6][7] |
| Box office | $202 million[7][8] |
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a 2024 Americansupernaturalcomedy horror film directed byGil Kenan from a screenplay he co-wrote withJason Reitman. It is the sequel toGhostbusters: Afterlife (2021), the fourth mainline installment, and the fifth film overall in theGhostbusters franchise. The film starsPaul Rudd,Carrie Coon,Finn Wolfhard,Mckenna Grace,Celeste O'Connor and Logan Kim reprising their roles fromAfterlife, alongsideBill Murray,Dan Aykroyd,Ernie Hudson,Annie Potts andWilliam Atherton reprising their characters from the earlier films.Kumail Nanjiani,Patton Oswalt,Emily Alyn Lind andJames Acaster also join the cast. Set three years after the events ofAfterlife, It sees the veteran Ghostbusters returning toNew York City and collaborating with their successors to save the world from a new ancient evil.[9]
Following the success ofAfterlife,Sony Pictures announced the sequel in April 2022, with Reitman returning as director. Co-writer and executive producer Kenan later took over as director that December, with Reitman 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, withprincipal photography commencing that month and wrapping in June.Dario Marianelli was hired to compose the film's score, replacingAfterlife composerRob Simonsen. As the first film in theGhostbusters franchise to be released following the death of the franchise's co-creator and Jason Reitman's fatherIvan Reitman, who posthumously receives credit as a producer alongside his son and Jason Blumenfeld, the film is dedicated to his memory and celebrates the 40th anniversary ofGhostbusters.[1]
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire had its world premiere at the AMC 13 Theater atLincoln Square in New York City on March 14, 2024,[10] and was released in the United States on March 22 byColumbia Pictures (viaSony Pictures Releasing). It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $202 million worldwide. A sequel is in development.[11]
Three years after the events in Summerville,Oklahoma,[b] Callie Spengler, her boyfriend Gary Grooberson, her children Trevor and Phoebe, and their friends Lucky Domingo and Podcast, relocate to New York City to aidWinston Zeddemore andRay Stantz in re-establishing the Ghostbusters. After the group captures a ghost known as the Hell's Kitchen Sewer Dragon,Walter Peck, the Ghostbusters' long-time opponent and the city's mayor, threatens to close them down. To appease Peck, Callie removes Phoebe from the team for being underage. Upset, Phoebe plays chess in a nearby park, where she encounters and befriends Melody, a ghost of a teenage girl killed in a fire.
Ray and Podcast collect cursed objects for examination. Nadeem Razmaadi sells them a strange brass orb with ritual markings written inMesopotamian Arabic. Ray determines it is anapotropaic trap due to copper alloys typically being used in rituals since theBronze Age, believed to have spiritual conductivity.
When Ray evaluates its psychokinetic energy levels, the orb emits broad-spectrum psionic energy. A cold wave travels from the orb tothe Ghostbusters' firehouse headquarters and damages the ecto-containment unit, which is at near capacity. Winston takes the orb to his company's paranormal research and development center, run by Dr. Lars Pinfield. Using an experimental extraction device, he is unable to extract anyorenda from it. The orb's captive psychically sabotages one of the center's ecto-confinements, allowing a ghost known as The Possessor to escape and hide in Podcast's equipment. To learn more, Lars joins Trevor and Lucky to see Nadeem, who reveals that his grandmother kept the orb hidden within a brass-lined chamber.Peter Venkman, brought in to help, discovers Nadeem has latentpyrokinesis.
Ray, accompanied by Phoebe and Podcast, visits Dr. Hubert Wartzki, a New York Public Library research librarian and anthropologist, who explains the orb was built over four thousand years ago in Southwest Asia by sorcerers known as the Firemasters to imprison Garraka, a demigod who sought to conquer humanity with endowment of "Kusharit Umoti", or the Death Chill, which can kill living creatures through fear alone. Nadeem's grandmother was of the lineage of the Firemasters, who prevented Garraka from escaping the orb in 1904 during a mock ritual conducted by members of the Manhattan Adventurers' Society, whom he froze to death. Garraka was confined in the orb due to being vulnerable to brass. This, combined with fire, and the removal of his horns trapped him within the orb.
When the trio attempts to stop the escaped Possessor from stealing a phonographic recording of the club's ritual, Peck exploits Phoebe's involvement to shut down the Ghostbusters. After an argument with Gary and her mother, Phoebe runs away and takes Melody to Winston's research center. She uses his extraction equipment toproject herself as a ghost for two minutes so the duo can physically interact.
Melody reveals she had been secretly working with Garraka, who has offered her passage to the afterlife. By controlling Phoebe's disembodied spirit, Garraka forces her physical body to recite the ritual chant. He then escapes, recovers his removed horns at Nadeem's residence and begins freezing the city. Realizing Garraka will free the ghosts in the containment unit after freeing ones at the center, the Ghostbusters gather to defend their headquarters. They are aided by Nadeem, who dons the Firemaster brass armor kept by his grandmother and attempts to master his powers.
Garraka overpowers them and breaches the containment unit. PhoebeelectroplatesEgon Spengler's proton pack with brass to strengthen it; Melody atones for her misdeeds by helping Nadeem utilize his powers to weaken Garraka. Ray, with help from his fellow veteran Ghostbusters (includingJanine Melnitz), captures Garraka by turning the ruptured containment unit into a giant ghost trap. A passage is opened for Melody, and she reconciles with Phoebe before departing for the afterlife to reunite with her family. As the city thaws, the Ghostbusters are hailed as heroes again, with Peck forced to support the team and reinstate Phoebe. The Ghostbusters begin pursuing escaped ghosts, including the Sewer Dragon andSlimer across New York City.
Additionally,Kevin Mangold andIan Whyte serve as the puppeteers forSlimer and Garraka, respectively, though the latter's voice performers were uncredited.Shelby Young and Ryan Bartley also appear uncredited as the voices of the Mini-Pufts, tiny versions and replicated forms of theStay Puft Marshmallow Man, with Young returning fromAfterlife.[19]John Rothman cameos as New York Public Library administrator Roger Delacorte, reprising his role from the first film.[20]
Following the release ofGhostbusters: Afterlife in November 2021,Dan Aykroyd expressed interest in having the surviving cast of the originalGhostbusters team reprise their roles in up to three sequels.[21] In April 2022, it was announced that a sequel toAfterlife was in early development atSony Pictures.[22][23]
In June 2022, the film was confirmed by directorJason Reitman under the working titleFirehouse.[24] That same month, it was announced that the sequel would take place inNew York City.[25] On October 5, 2022,Mckenna Grace announced that she would reprise her role.[26] The following month,Ernie Hudson revealed he had read a script for the film.[27]
In December 2022, it was announced thatGil Kenan would take over as director from Reitman, who remained as a writer and producer. It was also announced thatPaul Rudd,Finn Wolfhard andCarrie Coon would return.[28] In March 2023, it was announced thatKumail Nanjiani,Patton Oswalt,James Acaster andEmily Alyn Lind had been cast in the film.[29] Lind's role was established in secrecy during pre-production. She met Reitman, Kenan, and casting directorJohn Papsidera, and was not aware that she had the role until shortly before filming.[30]
According to Nanjiani, the filmmakers drew inspiration from the animated seriesThe Real Ghostbusters (1986–1991), noting they "wanted to make a long episode of the animated series".[31]
Principal photography began on March 20, 2023, inLondon,[32]Winnersh Film Studios,[33] andShinfield Studios,[34] under the working titleFirehouse, withEric Steelberg serving as the cinematographer.[16][35] On April 25, 2023, Hudson indicated that Aykroyd, Murray and Potts would reprise their roles from previousGhostbusters movies in the film;[36] Aykroyd confirmed he would return for the sequel in June 2023.[37]
Filming was spotted inNew York City, whereCasey Neistat was caught filming a stunt scene in a video posted on June 7, 2023, while documenting the effects ofthe 2023 Canadian wildfires in New York City.[38] Filming wrapped on June 23.[39]
On January 18, 2024,Dario Marianelli was confirmed to compose the film's score, replacingAfterlife composerRob Simonsen. This marked Marianelli's second collaboration with Kenan afterA Boy Called Christmas (2021). He recorded his score on the Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage in the John Williams Music Building on theSony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City.[40] The original film's composerElmer Bernstein's son,Peter Bernstein, returned as score consultant, after doing so forAfterlife.[41] In addition to using some of the elder Bernstein's original scores on some of the film's scenes, the song "Ghostbusters", which was performed byRay Parker Jr., is heard during the film's end credits. Other songs "Home on the Range", arranged by Kenan and Reitman, "Melano" by Caino x Jun R.O.T., and "Love Is Strange" byMickey & Sylvia are used in the film.
On March 7, 2024, Japanesegirl groupAtarashii Gakko! released a track called "Ghostbusters: Frozen Summer" as a collaboration withSony Pictures Entertainment Japan.[42]
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was scheduled to be released on December 20, 2023,[43][44] but was delayed due to theSAG-AFTRA strike and rescheduled for March 29, 2024 (taking over the original release date ofSony Pictures Animation'sSpider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse).[45] The film had its world premiere inNew York City on March 14, 2024,[46] and was released bySony Pictures Releasing on March 22, 2024.[2]
In April 2021, Sony signed deals withNetflix andDisney for the rights to their 2022 to 2026 film slate, following the film's theatrical and home media windows. Netflix signed for exclusive "pay 1 window" streaming rights, which is typically an 18-month window, and includedGhostbusters: Frozen Empire and pastGhostbusters films. Disney signed for "pay 2 windows" rights for the films, which would be streamed onDisney+ and/orHulu as well as broadcast on Disney's linear television networks.[47]
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was released digitally on May 7, 2024,[48] and on4K Blu-ray,Blu-ray, andDVD on June 25, 2024.[49]
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire grossed $113.4 million in the United States and Canada and $88.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $202 million.[8][7]
In the United States and Canada,Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was released alongsideImmaculate andLate Night with the Devil, and was projected to gross $43–45 million from 4,345 theaters in its opening weekend.[6] The film made $16 million on its first day, including $4.7 million from Thursday night previews, slightly toppingAfterlife's $4.5 million. It went on to debut at $45 million, landing between the opening weekends ofGhostbusters ($46 million in 2016) andAfterlife ($44 million in 2021), topping the box office, and pushing theGhostbusters franchise past the $1 billion mark.Deadline Hollywood credited Sony's marketing efforts for boosting the opening weekend, but suggested that the franchise would perform better if it returned to the original movie's focus on "wall-to-wall humor" and "big comedy stars."[50] In its second weekend the film made $15.7 million (a drop of 65%), finishing second behind newcomerGodzilla x Kong: The New Empire.[51]Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire finished in third place during its third weekend with $9 million (a drop of 42%).[52]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 42% of 302 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The website's consensus reads: "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire offers a certain amount of nostalgia-fueled fun for fans of the original, but a crowded cast and surprisingly serious tone prevent this sequel from truly sparking."[53] It is the lowest-rated installment in the franchise on the site.[54]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 46 out of 100, based on 50 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[55] Audiences surveyed byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled byPostTrak gave it an 80% overall positive score, with 64% saying they would recommend the film.[50]
Jake Wilson ofThe Age gave it 2.5 out of 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 pretense of ironic distance, emerging as the mournful weirdo he surely always was."[56]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."[57]
Richard Roeper of theChicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, 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."[58] Jake Coyle of theAssociated Press gave it 2.5 out of 4 stars, saying that it was "A significant upgrade fromAfterlife" and "a breezier, more serviceable sequel that has a modest charm as an '80-tinged family adventure."[59]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards | July 13, 2024 | Favorite Movie | Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire | Nominated | [60] |
| Favorite Movie Actor | Paul Rudd | Nominated | |||
| Saturn Awards | February 2, 2025 | Best Fantasy Film | Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire | Nominated | [61] |
| Best Film Costume Design | Alex Fortes &Ruth Myers | Nominated | |||
| Best Film Music | Dario Marianelli | Nominated | |||
| Best Younger Performer in a Film | Mckenna Grace | Nominated |
In February 2024, Kenan revealed that ideas for multiple future films in theGhostbusters franchise had been discussed.[62][63] 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.[64]
In October 2024, Kenan confirmed that a sequel toFrozen Empire was being developed.[11]
The film is also set to be released on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD on June 25.
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