Jason Reitman Says He Credits the 2016 GHOSTBUSTERS for One Aspect of His Making GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE

We are so close now to the long-awaited Ghostbusters: Afterlife, from director Jason Reitman, son of the original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman. Early reviews are in, and critics are saying this is a really special film made especially for fans of the franchise. While most fans loved the original movies, and really did not like the 2016 film with a female cast, Jason Reitman actually credits that movie as a kind of pathway to the film he made.

In a recent interview with SFX Magazine, Reitman said:

"I think that the remake proved, at least to me, the idea that the Ghostbusters could be anyone, and I expanded on this idea with Afterlife while always focusing on the family aspect and the history that was created by the original films. Every Ghostbusters film has, up until now, been about the opening of a company, friendship through the window of a business. Gil and I wanted to make a movie about family."

The family he’s referring to is of course that of Dr. Egon Spengler, the parapsychologist played by the late Harold Ramis in the original movies. He went on to talk about the process of building this story, saying:

"Every story that I’ve ever told began with a character. In the case of Afterlife, it was a 12-year-old girl standing in a field with a proton pack. At first, I didn’t know who she was. Eventually, I knew that she’d be a genius who found the neutrona wand in her grandfather’s basement. I knew that her brother would find Ecto-1 in a barn and go joyriding. Eventually, I realized that she was a Spengler."

The girl is Egon Spengler’s granddaughter Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), who’s joined by her gearhead brother Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Egon’s estranged daughter, single mother Callie (Carrie Coon).

"The Spenglers are a single mom and two kids, and they are a family that loves one another but struggles to connect. When anyone is born into a family, they arrive inside a mystery that started generations before them. Part of any life is trying to figure out where you came from and what drama led to your arrival. This is the moment at which we find Phoebe and Trevor."

GeekTyrant’s Joey and Billy got to see this movie at Cinema-Con, and they really raved about what an absolute blast this movie is. I can’t wait to see it. Ghostbusters: Afterlife hits theaters on November 19th. Are you going to be seeing it on opening weekend?