In Screen Rant's exclusive Ghostbusters: Afterlife behind-the-scenes video, the cast and crew discussing bringing the Ecto-1 back to life. Co-written and directed by Jason Reitman, the son of original Ghostbusters director and producer Ivan, the latest installment in the series ignores the events of Paul Feig's 2016 reboot and serves as a direct sequel to the original two films. Ghostbusters: Afterlife also sees the returns of original stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and Sigourney Weaver reprising their roles.
Alongside the legacy stars, Ghostbusters: Afterlife features an ensemble roster of franchise newcomers led by Mckenna Grace with Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Paul Rudd, Logan Kim and Celeste O'Connor. Ghostbusters: Afterlife centers on single mother Callie and her two children, Trevor and Phoebe, as they have to move to a small town in Oklahoma after inheriting a decaying farmhouse from Callie's late father. Trevor and Phoebe learn their grandfather to be original Ghostbuster Egon Spengler and of his investigation into the town's mine once owned by Ivo Shandor, the architect behind the skyscraper at the center of the Manhattan Crossrip of 1984 and the leader of the Cult of Gozer.
In honor of the film's digital release, Screen Rant has an exclusive Ghostbusters: Afterlife BTS video. The featurette sees the cast and crew of the sequel discuss bringing the Ecto-1 back to life and the car's importance to honoring the franchise's legacy. Check out the exclusive clip below:
In the lead up to the film's release, Ghostbusters: Afterlife's marketing continually highlighted the return of the Ecto-1, with the original announcement of the film's development even being a brief teaser of it sitting under a tarp in Spengler's farmhouse. The exclusive BTS video continue to highlight the vehicle's importance to maintaining the legacy of the Ghostbusters franchise and the story of the sequel while also offering insight into some of the new bells and whistles it got over the years. The most notable change seen for the Ecto-1 in the new film was that of the gunner seat, which Mckenna Grace's Phoebe makes use of in a thrilling chase sequence halfway through the film.
The exclusive Ghostbusters: Afterlife BTS video also serves as a nice indicator to the level of practical effects work Reitman and his team put into the sequel, crafting all of the new upgrades for the car and Grace having a ball in taking a ride in the gunner seat. This ode to fan service has seen both praise and criticism from reviewers but largely positive reception from audiences, leading to a modest box office success of over $175 million grossed against its $75 million budget. Though no sequels have been confirmed just yet, audiences can help boost the film to further success with Ghostbusters: Afterlife now available on digital platforms and set to hit shelves on 4K Ultra-HD, Blu-ray and DVD on February 1.