Just in, Sony has dropped two new trailers (the second being an international trailer), and they both go at the story in different ways. Here’s the one for the US release:

Admittedly the official trailer does seem to lean to heavily on fanservice and everyone recognizing Walter Peck and all the other nods; but the international trailer does lean in more on the spooky/comedy vibes of the franchise, and we get to see a lot more including Winston’s new Ghostbusters lab. Check it:

With Afterlife leaning in on a returning villain in the form of Gozer, this sequel does promise to introduce us to some new ghosts (and some we’ve met before). While the Ghostbusters simply trapped the ghosts in earlier films, this new one is now all about studying them and finding out a place where they can be stored.

It’s also worth noting that James Acaster’s look as the new technician strongly resembles that of the animated Egon Spengler from the cartoons, with the wacky blonde hair and gray suit. Harold Ramis himself may be gone, but at least they found a way to bring Egon back along with the rest of the original crew.

Here’s the official synopsis:

In Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the Spengler family returns to where it all started – the iconic New York City firehouse – to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who’ve 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.

Watch out for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire when it comes out in theaters on March 21.

It’s not entirely sure what Peter Venkman’s role in the new movie is going to be, but Empire does give us a new image of him in the film with Paul Rudd; and we also have a description from director Gil Kenan about where the story could go.

Here’s Murray with Rudd:

We don’t have any specifics on this scene, but it does look like the ghost containment chamber behind Paul Rudd, which was teased to be in an alarming state by the end of Afterlife.

With the Spengler’s closing the book on Gozer in the first film, director Kenan is excited to introduce a bunch of newer things with Frozen Empire. He says, “Because the Spengler family story drove the narrative in Afterlife, bringing Gozer back to centre-stage was a natural way to close the book on the past… But we are now in the post-Gozerian era of the Ghostbusters saga, so that means we’re able to stretch out and create an entirely new mythology. And that’s thrilling as a storyteller, because there are all-new and terrifying stakes with fresh visual references to draw on.”

Though I do love that we’re back in the original Ghostbusters continuity, I am worried that the film could be relying too much on nostalgia to be great. Even the appearance of the original Ghostbusters in Afterlife started to feel too pander-y.

Hopefully with Frozen Empire, we get a new crew at the firehouse and some new monsters. How about some love from the animated series like Extreme Ghostbusters?

Hell will freeze over in New York when Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire comes to cinemas on March 29, 2024.

Here’s the first teaser:

In Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the Spengler family returns to where it all started – the iconic New York City firehouse – to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who’ve 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.

Though the first movie had brought back classic villain Gozer, it does seem that the sequel is now going to be bringing back a new villain. We don’t know where exactly they come from, but it was teased in the last movie that the ghost containment unit in the fold firehouse was in danger.

Besides the returning faces from the first film, we also have confirmation that the original Ghostbusters will also be returning. We also have new characters played by Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt joining the fray.

I’ll admit, I thought Afterlife as a movie kind of took itself too seriously, and it seems like they’re doing the same thing with Frozen Empire. Hopefully, we still get some more comedy out of the film, and this is just for me personally, but it would be fun if they brought back some of the capitalist satire of the first films.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire comes to cinemas on March 29, 2024.