GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE Sequel Gets A New Director With Gil Kenan Set To Take Over From Jason Reitman

GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE Sequel Gets A New Director With Gil Kenan Set To Take Over From Jason Reitman

Despite initial reports suggesting that Jason Reitman would return to helm the sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the project has now enlisted a new director in the first film's writer, Gil Kenan...

By MarkCassidy - Dec 06, 2022 12:12 PM EST
Filed Under: Ghostbusters

Sony Pictures announced a December 20, 2023 release date for the follow-up to Ghostbusters: Afterlife earlier this year, and the official statement mentioned that the first film's director, Jason Reitman, would be stepping back behind the camera.

However, Deadline (via FearHQ.com) is now reporting that the untitled sequel has found a new helmer, with Afterlife writer/executive producer Gil Kenan set to take over while Reitman moving into a producer role.

“It’s an absolute honor to pick up the proton pack and step behind the camera for the next chapter of the Spengler family saga. I just wish I could go back to 1984 and tell the kid in the sixth row of the Mann Valley West that one day he was going to get to direct a Ghostbusters film,” said Kenan.

“A few years ago, my father handed me the keys to Ecto-1 and together we made Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Words will never express how grateful I am to have made a film with my father by my side. It’s now time to hand those keys to my creative partner and fellow Ghostbuster Gil Kenan, a brilliant director who will keep the Spengler spirit alive. I can only hope to provide him the same producorial care and support that my father showed me,” added Reitman.

Kenan has previously helmed Monster House, City of Ember, A Boy Called Christmas, and the 2015 Poltergeist remake.

Plot details are still under wraps, but after moving the spooky adventures to a more rural setting for Afterlife, it's been confirmed that we'll be returning to the franchise's more familiar location of New York City in the next movie.

Main cast members Carrie Coon (Callie Spengler) Finn Wolfhard (Trevor), Mckenna Grace (Phoebe), and Paul Rudd (Gary Grooberson) are expected to return, but it's not clear if Ghostbusters OGs Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson will also reprise their roles - although the latter does seem like a fairly safe bet after the last movie's post-credits scene.

In the stinger, we saw Winston return to the team's old fire house headquarters, where the refurbished ECTO-1 was waiting. Though nothing has been confirmed just yet, the implication was that Zeddemore was planning to train a new group of spook-hunters.

What did you guys make of Afterlife? Would you be down for a sequel? Drop us a comment in the usual place.

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ScaryTerry
ScaryTerry - 12/6/2022, 12:31 PM
This is a comment.
ScaryTerry
ScaryTerry - 12/6/2022, 12:31 PM
@ScaryTerry - Ok, it works.
Mugens
Mugens - 12/6/2022, 12:38 PM
I had/have a feeling that after Reitman's father passed away, his heart wouldn't be in the series as before. Quite understandable if that is the case.
JaKBaLLTV
JaKBaLLTV - 12/6/2022, 12:57 PM
SheepishOne
SheepishOne - 12/6/2022, 1:15 PM
I wish they'd just let it die. Afterlife treated Ghostbusters like this serious epic that happened and changed the world and had these dramatic camera zooms on things like a Nestle Crunch bar wrapper like it was Luke Skywalker's lightsaber.

Ghostbusters was a schlubby comedy making fun of the corporatization of everything in the 80s. The whole charm of it is that nothing was really taken seriously, and everyone else was willing to pretend these 4 schlubby guys were pros because they didn't want to deal with it themselves. Afterlife is the exact opposite of that. And seeing Bill Murray and the original crew making jokes like guns were being held to their heads off screen only reminded me how much fun I wasn't having. And then Ivan Reitman "showed up".

Don't get me wrong. It was beautifully shot, and the new actors did well with what they had, but it seems like it's made for people who haven't watched Ghostbusters in twenty years and mostly know it from pop culture references. Paul Rudd was good, but I think it was a mistake revolving the story around the kids. You could have just had Paul Rudd trying to get into the Ghostbusters stuff to woo the kid's mom for the whole movie, and I think it would have been more relevant and truer to the spirit of the original.

Honestly, as much as I disliked the tone of the 2016 Ghostbusters and felt the humor was wildly unfunny and inconsistent, I admire that it at least recognized Ghostbusters is a comedy.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 12/6/2022, 1:21 PM
@SheepishOne - *Jason Reitman.
JuanRGuijarro
JuanRGuijarro - 12/6/2022, 1:26 PM
Ghostbusters, along with indiana Jones and ET are movies that only Americans care off. Nobody outside the US find them interesting...
WaffeX
WaffeX - 12/6/2022, 1:36 PM
@JuanRGuijarro - wrong, greetings from germany
Ha1frican
Ha1frican - 12/6/2022, 1:33 PM
Makes me a little more skeptical but I really enjoyed the last one so I’m cautiously optimistic.
Batmangina
Batmangina - 12/6/2022, 1:40 PM
Couldn't they just get a CGI Jason Reitman to direct it?
bobevanz
bobevanz - 12/6/2022, 1:46 PM
@Batmangina - you mean Ivan 🤡
bobevanz
bobevanz - 12/6/2022, 1:48 PM
I really wished Jason would come back, but having the co-writer in charge is a good step. [frick] 2016 with a grenade. GB2 is shit, but still enjoyable to watch. GB1 is top 20 for sure
TheHumanSpider2
TheHumanSpider2 - 12/6/2022, 1:55 PM
[frick] that movie, and this movie too.
TheLobster
TheLobster - 12/6/2022, 2:56 PM
@TheHumanSpider2 - nah Afterlife was pretty great
HopediahPlanter
HopediahPlanter - 12/6/2022, 2:28 PM


Need this in live action.
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