Ghostbusters Netflix Cartoon Announced, Afterlife Sequel Setting and Animated Film Directors Confirmed

The post Ghostbusters Netflix Cartoon Announced, Afterlife Sequel Setting and Animated Film Directors Confirmed appeared first on Consequence.

To mark the 38th anniversary of the original Ghostbusters movie, Sony threw the annual Ghostbusters Day celebration in Los Angeles. The June 8th fan event came with a ton of new announcements, including Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel details, a cartoon series coming to Netflix, and more info on the long-gestating animated film.

The freshest news would be the Netflix cartoon, coming from Sony Pictures Animation with Ghost Corps, Inc.’s Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan (co-writers of Afterlife, with the former directing) onboard as executive producers. The series will take place “in canon” of the core story, but will “navigate an unexplored era.” According to Variety, the series is “in development” and has yet to be picked up for a full series.

Reitman’s father, the late Ivan Reitman, was said to have been working on a cartoon show (the franchise’s third following The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters) back in 2015, but it’s unclear if this Netflix show is built off his original “futuristic” concept. However, an animated movie was also a “passion project” for Reitman, his son said — and that too is coming to fruition.

Also in the works since 2015, the animated film will feature brand new characters and “take us to places that we’ve never been before,” Kenan told The Hollywood Reporter. Confirmed during Ghostbusters Day is news that the project will be helmed by Jennifer Klauska (Hotel Transylvania: Transformania) and Chris Prynoski (EP on Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe), with writer Brenda Hsueh (Disjointed, How I Met Your Mother) penning the script.

“An animated series and an animated film will allow us to go deeper into places that Dan Aykroyd talked about when he first talked about Ghostbusters,” teased Reitman. Fans will take that as a hint the cartoons will explore futuristic and perhaps even interdimensional settings.

Finally, Reitman and Kenan also delivered new details about the Afterlife sequel. They confirmed the next film will continue the story of the Spengler family, (Carrie Coon’s Callie, Finn Wolfhard’s Trevor, and Mckenna Grace’s Phoebe), though precisely who would return wasn’t announced.

It was revealed, however, that Ernie Hudson’s Winston Zeddemore would be returning and have a prominent role in the future of the franchise. To that end, the sequel will indeed take place in New York and involve the original Ghostbusters firehouse, as teased in the Afterlife post-credits scene. In fact, the sequel’s code name was revealed to be “Firehouse.”

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“The character of Winston Zeddemore and Zeddemore Industries figures strongly into the future of Ghostbusters,” said Reitman.

Kenan told THR that they had the story for a sequel before even finishing Afterlife. Reitman added that he discussed the film and all the Ghostbusters franchise expansions with his father before his passing. “He was so excited. He was just thrilled about where we wanted to go,” said Reitman. “And sitting there, telling him what we wanted to do with the story was a daunting responsibility, but his enthusiasm for it is what fuels us today.”

Also revealed during Ghostbusters Day was a VR game coming to PlayStation VR in addition to Quest 2, an “immersive training simulator” called Ghostbusters VR Academy coming to 400 locations worldwide later this year, a 2023 Ghostbusters comic book from Dark Horse Comics that “will help bridge the gap between Ghostbusters: Afterlife and the upcoming sequel,” and a console video game dubbed Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed that will allow players “to not only suit up as a Ghostbusters, but play as a ghost.”

Finally, there were two tributes to Ivan Reitman announced. One is a limited edition Ghostbusters action figure set to be auctioned off as a Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles benefit. The other is news that the Sony Lot street that’s home to Ghost Corps. has been renamed Ivan Retiman Way.

With all this news, it’s clear that Jason Reitman is determined to steward the legacy of the franchise created by his father, Dan Aykroyd, and the late Harold Ramis for a fresh generation. “Between gaming, comics, television, and movies, we are going to tell the untold history of Ghostbusters while reaching into the future with characters you haven’t met from places you haven’t gone,” said Kenan.

In more Ghostbusters news, a documentary about Ray Parker Jr., the musician behind the iconic “Ghostbusters” theme song, recently received its first trailer.

Ghostbusters Netflix Cartoon Announced, Afterlife Sequel Setting and Animated Film Directors Confirmed
Ben Kaye

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