Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) is upon us, so there’s no better time to look back at the entire franchise. The Ghostbusters cinematic universe (a name yet to be officially given to the franchise by Sony Pictures) goes beyond just the four movies (which now includes the new one) — there are animated shows, video games, comic books, and more, both old and upcoming.
While Frozen Empire is the fourth film in the main timeline (which does not include the 2016 reboot), you’ll need to refresh your wider knowledge of the franchise before watching the new sequel when it premieres on March 22. You might also be surprised to learn that the films aren’t the only installments that are considered canon.
Here’s a recap of the entire Ghostbusters franchise so far.
Ghostbusters (1984)
Ghostbusters (1984) follows parapsychologists Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis), and Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), who set up a paranormal investigation and elimination service in an old firehouse in New York City where they build an Ecto Containment Unit (ECU) to store all the ghosts they intend to capture with proton packs — nuclear particle accelerators that emit streams of energy to wrangle non-corporeal entities.
They’re joined by secretary Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts) and fourth Ghostbuster Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson). But besides all the hauntings in NYC, something even stranger is heading to the neighborhood when Manhattan cellist Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) and accountant Louis Tully (Rick Moranis) become possessed by entities known as Zuul/the Gatekeeper and Vinz Clortho/the Keymaster, respectively, in their apartment building.
After establishing themselves in the public eye, the Ghostbusters’ ECU is shut down by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agent Walter Peck (William Atherton), which releases all the ghosts they’ve captured, plunging the city into a state of emergency. At the same time, the Gatekeeper and the Keymaster unite and bring forth a Sumerian god known as Gozer the Gozerian (Slavitza Jovan), who intends to destroy the world.
Peck blames the Ghostbusters for the disaster and has them arrested. Later, when they’re released, they warn Mayor Lenny Clotch (David Margulies) about the pending apocalypse, who offers them police and military assistance. The Ghostbusters face Gozer atop Dana and Louis’ apartment building, where she’s joined by the two victims, who have now taken on the form of the horned beasts, Zuul and Vinz Clortho.
Gozer asks the Ghostbusters to “choose” their “Destructor,” and Ray accidentally conjures up the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, a 112-foot confectionary mascot made of marshmallow, who attacks the Ghostbusters. Despite Egon’s earlier warnings not to “cross the streams” due to potentially destroying the universe, the Ghostbusters do so and send Gozer back to her dimension, eliminating the Stay-Puft and saving Dana and Louis in the process.
Related: 7 Bizarre Facts You Didn’t Know About ‘Ghostbusters’ (1984)
Ghostbusters II
Ghostbusters II (1989) takes place five years after the events of the 1984 film to find the titular paranormal eliminators out of business, despite having saved New York City and the rest of the world. Peter Venkman now works as a TV show host, Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore attend children’s birthday parties dressed in their old gear, and Egon Spengler is busy in his laboratory studying the metaphysical effects of negative human emotions.
After investigating a river of mysterious pink slime (known as “psychomagnotheric slime” or “mood slime”) running beneath New York City, the Ghostbusters end up in court for causing public damage. Louis Tully, who is already their accountant, is hired as their defense lawyer. When two ghosts — the Scoleri Brothers — attack the courtroom, having emerged from a sample of the slime, the Ghostbusters trap the specters and they’re reinstated by the judge.
Dana Barrett, now a painter at an art museum, begins to notice strange things about the oil painting of a 16th-century tyrant and warlock named Vigo the Carpathian, who possesses her boss, Janosz Poha (Peter MacNicol). The Ghostbusters soon learn that the river of slime is the physical manifestation of all the negative energy caused by New York’s residents and that it’s running beneath the museum, which explains why the painting of Vigo is alive.
Vigo later sends Janosz to kidnap Dana’s son Oscar while Janine Melnitz and Louis Tully are babysitting him so that the warlord can transfer his soul into the baby and live again. Dana heads to the museum but she’s imprisoned by Janosz. When the Ghostbusters warn Mayor Clotch about the slime, which has now reached street level and is causing a citywide panic, the mayor’s assistant, Jack Hardemeyer (Kurt Fuller), has them committed to a psychiatric ward.
When the mayor releases the Ghostbusters, they head to the museum, which is now shielded by the pink slime, while hundreds of New Yorkers look on. Realizing that the slime can also have the opposite effect, they cover the Statue of Liberty — a symbol of hope — in positively-charged mood slime and use the city’s now-animated iconic centerpiece to destroy the museum’s barrier. Upon entering the museum, they save Dana, Oscar, and Janosz and destroy Vigo.
Related:Sony Releases Brand-New ‘Ghostbusters’ Short Film Online
The Real Ghostbusters
The Real Ghostbusters (1986 — 1991) follows Peter Venkman (Lorenzo Music/Dave Coulier), Egon Spengler (Maurice LaMarche), Ray Stantz (Frank Welker), and Winston Zeddemore (Arsenio Hall/Buster Jones) as they continue to investigate and eliminate spooks and specters throughout New York City, with the help of their secretary Janine Melnitz (Laura Summer/Kath Soucie) and the “Class 5 full-roaming vapor” Slimer (Frank Welker).
Frozen Empire director/writer Gil Kenan and writer/producer Jason Reitman have admitted that the new film takes inspiration from the animated series, which is known for its particularly wacky ghosts and cool gadgets (hence all the many toys in the ’80s and ’90s). However, while the cartoon, which spans seven seasons (173 episodes), acknowledges the first two Ghostbusters movies as canon, it remains non-canon in reverse, so it’s not required viewing ahead of the new sequel.
Related: ‘Ghostbusters’: Louis Tully’s Return Explained
Extreme Ghostbusters
Extreme Ghostbusters (1997) is the follow-up to the 1986 cartoon. It follows a new generation of Ghostbusters in gothic cult enthusiast Kylie Griffin (Tara Strong), cynical wise-cracker Eduardo Rivera (Rino Romano), disabled athlete Garrett Miller (Jason Marsden), and mechanical whizz Roland Jackson (Alfonso Ribeiro), who are joined by Egon Spengler (Maurice LaMarche), Janine Melnitz (Pat Musick), and Slimer (Billy West).
While it only lasted for one season, with 40 episodes, Extreme Ghostbusters has become a cult classic within the fandom. Unfortunately, like its predecessor, it’s not canon with the films. It’s not impossible for the films to “adopt” the 1997 cartoon (and with it, The Real Ghostbusters), but the trouble is that, in explaining how the Ghostbusters fell apart, Afterlife doesn’t mention anything about a second team that operated in NYC in the late ’90s.
Related: ‘Ghostbusters’ TV Series Gets Imminent Release Date Ahead of ‘Frozen Empire’
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Viewed as the original third entry in the film series, Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009) reunites Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, Winston Zeddemore, Walter Peck, and Janine Melnitz (Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and William Atherton, respectively, reprise their roles). Set in 1991, it features all the iconic ghosts from Slimer to the Stay-Puft after a supernatural energy pulse opens the ECU.
For a long time, Ghostbusters: The Video Game was considered canon with the films (this was even confirmed by Dan Aykroyd); however, since the release of Afterlife, this has been heavily debated among fans, as the 2021 film retcons the mythology behind the Gozer the Gozerian worshipper Ivo Shandor, who appears as the main antagonist in the form of a ghost in the game, but is shown to have been “hibernating” for centuries in the film.
It’s a huge shame that the game’s canonicity is now questioned by fans, as it acts as a far superior extension to the Gozer mythology than Afterlife, which creates some frustrating inconsistencies in established lore through its use of Ivo Shandor (JK Simmons), the Terror Dogs (Vinz Clortho/the Keymaster and Zuul/the Gatekeeper), the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man (or, in this case, the “Mini-Pufts”), and even Gozer (Olivia Wilde) herself.
Related:‘Ghostbusters’ TV Series Geared Towards Adults Explained
IDW Publishing Comic Books
The IDW Publishing Ghostbusters comic book series lasted for the best part of ten years and gave us many stories led by Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore. Some of them are simple ghost-busting outings, while others take full advantage of the Multiverse by “crossing the streams” with franchises such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, and even the divisive 2016 Ghostbusters reboot Answer the Call.
Like the two animated shows and the 2009 video game — all of which the comics acknowledge as canon — you probably won’t have time to catch up on the IDW Ghostbusters series before watching Frozen Empire (even if you don’t plan on watching it for a couple of weeks after its release). But it’s definitely worth investing your time at some point if you decide to work your way through the entire franchise, comics and all, from start to finish.
Sadly, IDW’s Ghostbusters series doesn’t reach a natural conclusion, and the comic book rights are now held by Dark Horse Comics, which is about to release a brand-new, four-part series titled Ghostbusters: Back in Town (2024). Keep reading for more details.
Related:Did You Miss This Epic Crossover Between the Original ‘Ghostbusters’ and the 2016 Reboot?
2016 Reboot Answer the Call
Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016) is a remake of the original Ghostbusters (1984). It follows an all-female group consisting of Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig), Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy), Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones), and Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), who are joined by their secretary Kevin Beckmann (Chris Hemsworth) as they face a villain named Rowan (Neil Casey) who transforms himself into a giant ghost hellbent on destroying NYC.
The 2016 reboot from director Paul Feig remains incredibly divisive among fans. It failed to impress fans and critics and caught only $229.1M at the global box office against an inflated budget of $144M. While the film has its loyalists, needless to say, we’re very unlikely to get any sort of big-screen sequel (or small-screen, for that matter). However, the timeline established in the film is revisited in the IDW Ghostbusters comics.
If you’re binging the Ghostbusters film series and don’t mind pausing the main continuity established in the 1984 film to check out Answer the Call (assuming you don’t absolutely hate it like many fans do — who let it be said, are well within their right), at least you’ll get to enjoy some Ghost-busting action and some fun (if a little on-the-nose) cameos from Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver, Ernie Hudson, and Annie Potts (and even Slimer).
Related: The 2016 Reboot Wasn’t the First Female-Led ‘Ghostbusters’
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Afterlife is the third entry in the main series as it reinstates the timeline established in the original 1984 film. The sequel opens with an older Egon Spengler (played in the first two films and the 2009 video game by the late Harold Ramis, but this time with actor Bob Gunton and Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II director Ivan Reitman as stand-ins), who’s using a large ghost trap to try and capture an “astral” Terror Dog on an old dirt farm.
After Egon is killed by the specter, we meet his daughter Callie (Carrie Coon) and her two children Phoebe (McKenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), who have fallen on hard times and are being forced to relocate to Egon’s old dirt farm in Summerville, Oklahoma, in the aftermath of his passing. When they arrive, they learn from locals that their father/grandfather was an eccentric loner obsessed with the end of the world.
Science enthusiast Phoebe befriends fellow summer school student Podcast (Logan Kim) and their science teacher and seismologist Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd), while Trevor meets local teen Lucky Domingo (Celeste O’Connor). Phoebe also meets a friendly supernatural presence at the farm that leads her to the old Ghostbusters equipment that’s been hidden away in the basem*nt and the barn, including the Ecto-1 and the proton packs.
Together, they learn that there’s something strange going on down in Summerville’s abandoned mines, which are likely the source of a series of unexplained earthquakes in the area. Separately, Phoebe, Podcast, and Gary, and Trevor and Lucky, encounter the astral Terror Dog. Later, the children use the Ecto-1 to pursue a ghost named Muncher. However, they’re arrested for reckless driving and damaging public property.
From the police station, Phoebe contacts Ray Stantz in New York and tells him about her grandfather’s death. Ray explains that Egon abandoned the Ghostbusters, taking all their equipment, to try to stop an undetermined supernatural threat in Oklahoma, home to mines constructed by Ivo Shandor, the infamous Gozer worshipper. When Phoebe, Trevor, Podcast, and Lucky enter the mines, they discover Ivo Shandor asleep in a tomb.
Gozer the Gozerian (Olivia Wilde) soon returns, and the children flee. Shandor also awakens, but despite pledging his loyalty to his god, she swiftly kills him. Meanwhile, Callie and Gary become possessed by Zuul and Vinz Clortho, respectively, while miniature versions of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man run amok in the local Walmart. Soon, Phoebe comes face to face with Gozer and her two Terror Dogs, all of whom the children lure to the farm so that Egon’s large trap can capture them.
When Phoebe, Trevor, and Podcast manage to free Callie and Gary from Gozer’s minions, the god turns her attention to Lucky and possesses her body. The original Ghostbusters, Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore, along with the ghost of Egon Spengler, suddenly show up to help Phoebe and the others finally defeat Gozer and free Lucky. After an emotional encounter with his family, Egon’s spirit ascends to the afterlife.
At the end of the film, the original Ghostbusters return the Ecto-1 to New York City, where we learn that Peter is still with Dana Barrett. A post-credits scene also reveals that Winston and Janine plan to re-open the Ghostbusters firehouse, where a light on the ECU is flashing red.
Related:‘Ghostbusters 2’ Is a Better Sequel Than ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ — Here’s Why!
Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed
The asymmetrical multiplayer video game Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed (2022) follows on directly from Afterlife, picking up after the post-credits scene in which Winston Zeddemore re-opens the old Ghostbusters firehouse in New York City.
The game sees the return of Ernie Hudson (Winston Zeddemore) — who runs the firehouse — and Dan Aykroyd (Ray Stantz) — who offers help from his nearby Occult Bookstore — as they lead a brand-new team of Ghostbusters who must face new threats all around the city.
A future DLC (downloadable content) that features the Spengler family from Afterlife and Frozen Empire (McKenna Grace’s Phoebe, Finn Wolfhard’s Trevor, and Carrie Coon’s Callie) is expected in the near future. This add-on will firmly canonize Spirits Unleashed within the ongoing film series.
Related: ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Trailer Breakdown
Ghostbusters: Back in Town
A brand-new comic book series that bridges the gap between Afterlife and Frozen Empire is heading to comic book stores and online retailers. It follows Phoebe Spengler (McKenna Grace), Trevor Spengler (Finn Wolfhard), Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon), and Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) as they relocate from Summerville, Oklahoma, to Manhattan, New York City, where the new sequel takes place. This new series is 100% canon with the films.
Ghostbusters: Back in Town #1 will be released on March 27, one week after the worldwide premiere of Frozen Empire.
Related: ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Introduces Female Team, Gets New Title
Frozen Empire
Check out the trailer for Frozen Empire below, per Sony Pictures:
Per the official website, here’s the synopsis for the film:
InGhostbusters: 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.
Frozen Empire stars Carrie Coon (Callie Spengler), Paul Rudd (Gary Grooberson), McKenna Grace (Phoebe Spengler), Finn Wolfhard (Trevor Spengler), Celeste O’Connor (Lucky Domingo), Logan Kim (Podcast), Dan Aykroyd (Ray Stantz), Annie Potts (Janine Melnitz), William Atherton (Walter Peck), Ernie Hudson (Winston Zeddemore), Bill Murray (Peter Venkman), James Acaster (Lars Pinfield), Patton Oswalt (Dr. Hubert Wartzki), Kumail Nanjiani (Nadeem Razmaadi), and Emily Alyn Lind in an undisclosed role.
The film will be released in theaters on March 22, 2024.
Related: ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Director Talks Even More Cameos — Who’s Back?
The Future of Ghostbusters
There’s much more to look forward to from Ghostbusters. Frozen Empire will be followed by the new comic book series Ghostbusters: Back in Town. There’s also aGhostbusters animated series and ananimated movie in production that will stream on Netflix in the near future. Frozen Empire director Gil Kenan has also alluded to more theatrical sequels beyond the new film. There are plenty of Ghostbusters video games to enjoy, too, from Spirits Unleashed to the virtual reality (VR) experience Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord (2023).
Meanwhile, Ghostbusters is expected to return to Universal Studios for this year’s Halloween Horror Nights, having last appeared during the event at Hollywood and Orlando in 2019. Even long before 2019, Orlando was no stranger to the franchise, having hosted Ghostbusters Spooktacular (1990 – 1996), Extreme Ghostbusters: The Great Fight Way (2002 – 2005), and StreetBusters (1991 – 1993). This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the 1984 film, which, in celebration, is returning to theaters in front of a live orchestra.
Will you be binging the entire Ghostbusters franchise before you watch Frozen Empire, or just the movies? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!
