With Ghostbusters: Afterlife now in theaters and audiences being either pleasantly pleased or woefully underwhelmed, it’s unclear where the franchise's future lies. The post-pandemic box office numbers are promising, but viewers and critics appear to be on shaky ground with the latest effort. The film once again leans into the nostalgia of the 1984 original, rather than establishing its own identity in any real way. Ghostbusters: Afterlife feels like a cathartic love letter to the franchise, rather than a push toward the future, making is seem more like a light reboot than sequel. As a whole, Ghostbusters continues to be a franchise that never evolves, but rather doubles down on the original again and again, making it feel recycled and stale. In order for Ghostbusters to be relevant, exciting, and interesting again, the franchise needs to redefine, reinvent, and revamp the brand into a whole new thing or just let it die.
Conceived by Dan Aykroyd, a lifelong fan of the occult, as a starring vehicle for himself and John Belushi, Ghostbusters was meant to bridge comedy and supernatural elements, while crafting a sprawling time and space traveling franchise for the two comedians. After Belushi died in 1982, Harold Ramis came aboard and they created a more financially sound project that would take place in New York and focus on ghosts being unleashed there, rather than having teams of Ghostbusters scattered all over time and space, all competing against one another. The original concept was far more ambitious than what was eventually filmed, akin more to Men In Black in terms of both story, concept, and VFX. However, the scaled-back approach worked well and Ghostbusters became one of the highest-grossing comedies of all time, spawning a franchise that has covered everything from films, animated series, merchandise, video games, and more.
After Ghostbusters II was released to a mostly lukewarm reception, the franchise stalled for 27 years with multiple stop-and-go announcements along the way for sequels and spinoffs that never came to fruition. In 2016, Paul Feig stunt-casted a reboot of the franchise, which essentially recreated the 1984 original right down to the finale. While entertaining, the film faced harsh criticism and backlash (as well as poor box office) for switching up the cast and repeating the same tired story as the previous films. Likewise, the latest attempt, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, is making the same mistake of leaning too far into nostalgia and mostly recreating the original film, spinning the franchise wheels yet again. Therefore, the only thing that can salvage the series at this point is a complete and total revamp with new characters, technology, threats, setting, tone, etc. that is more akin to Aykroyd's original vision for the Ghostbusters series, instead of the constant retread of the same old song-and-dance every five or more years. If that can't be done, then continuing the franchise is doomed to continue the repetitive cycle of remaking the same movie over and over again.
Ghostbusters Needs New Characters (Not Copies Of The Originals)
The original Ghostbusters (and the sequel) set a tone and style for the franchise that was largely based on the performances of the cast. Aykroyd, Murray, Hudson, and Ramis were a one-of-a-kind team and trying to recreate their magic is impossible. Instead, producers need to focus on establishing a new cast of characters that aren't carbon copies of what's come before. A diverse cast of characters of varying genders, races, religions, and backgrounds is needed to build a new team that is likable and relatable in more ways than just being most like their fill-in-the-blank counterpart from the 1984 film. While Ghostbusters: Afterlife slightly attempts this obstacle, they still fall prey to the nostalgic pitfalls that have plagued the series since the 2016 reboot.
Ghostbusters' Mythology Has To Drop The Nostalgia
Even after nearly four decades, the original Ghostbusters movie remains incredibly popular. There's no denying both its impact and the passion audiences still hold for it. However, just because that film is great doesn't mean it has to be continually remade in order to keep the franchise alive. Ghostbusters: Afterlife brings back the original crew in what amounts to a nostalgic heart tug, but they barely make a dent in what should've been a much larger part in the film in order to properly pass the torch. Instead, audiences get every trope from the original recreated, right down to the exact same villains and ghosts, or some variation on everything that's come before. With everything hinging on the past, it becomes impossible to see a future for the series. This must change for the saga to successfully move forward.
Ghostbusters 4 Has To Completely Revamp The Franchise
If a sequel is made to Ghostbusters: Afterlife, then it needs to be refreshed in a big way. This includes new outfits, new technology, new vehicles, new threats, and new characters that establish themselves without attempting to be likened to one of the original 1984 characters. If anything, the next iteration of Ghostbusters should be more akin to what Aykroyd envisioned from the start. With VFX capable of recreating his ideas from over 30 years ago, the time-and-space traveling Ghostbusters, jumping through dimensions to fight off ghosts and evil spirits with a much darker tone and deeper sci-fi elements is what Ghostbusters sorely needs. This would ultimately make the franchise fresh, vibrant, cool, relevant, and up-to-speed with what audiences are hungry for, while honoring the full conceptual breadth of Aykroyd's original outline. Otherwise, it's just more of the same old dusty jumpsuits, proton packs and Ecto-1 sirens that are bordering on parody at this point.
If Ghostbusters Can't Change, Then It Should End
Ultimately, if anything beyond Ghostbusters: Afterlife can't find a way to reimagine the concept (or at least capture Aykroyd's more ambitious initial idea) then it's doomed to continue down the path of constant remakes and reboot-quels. Consequently, the series will continue to dig up every tired trope and rehash it for one generation after another, never really going anywhere or pushing the narrative to the next level of storytelling. If that's the case, then Ghostbusters is better off left in a ghost trap for all eternity. The original can live on and be shared from generation to generation, but if it can't catch up to the times and find new and interesting ways to exist outside of the fever of nostalgia, then it's better that the Ghostbusters franchise Rests in Peace, rather than recycling for decades to come.