The Ghostbusters franchise has been synonymous with the city of New York, but that is set to change in the upcoming Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel when the movie shifts not only cities but continents. According to a new report, Ghostbusters 4 will be taking the franchise to the U.K., with the main part of the movie being set in London. The same report seems to also confirm that along with Ernie Hudson’s Winston Zeddemore, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Sigourney Weaver are all set to reprise their respective roles as Peter, Ray and Dana in this December’s release.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife brought the popular 80s franchise back to the big screen in 2021, ignoring the 2016 Melissa McCarthy reboot in favor of continuing the original narrative of the 1984 hit. While the movie’s box office results were partly impacted by the effects of the Covid pandemic, it still managed to take over $200 million worldwide, which put it in the same area as the likes of The Suicide Squad, Jungle Cruise and Cruella.
The new movie was teased last year, with a working title of Firehouse. Having seen Ecto1 returning to the iconic New York firestation in the final scenes of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, many believed that this would be the setting for the sequel. However, it looks like that is not the case, as a source told The Sun:
“Studio bosses are taking a classic franchise, setting it in a new location but keeping the magic of the original. It’s going to be brilliant. Ghostbusters has always been synonymous with New York, but to mix things up this time the team was thinking of other great cities with a haunted history. London is perfect. It gives so much license to look back at classic landmarks and British history, but still in an urban setting. The plans look very cool, and getting the original stars interested wasn’t difficult. They all love the movies and look back at them very fondly.”
Will A Location Change Help Keep The Ghostbusters Franchise Fresh?
Well it certainly can’t hurt, and it will have the advantage of avoiding the new movie simply rehashing Ghostbusters II, something that some accused Ghostbusters: Afterlife of doing by focusing on the same plot points of the original 1984 movie. However, Afterlife was a spiritual rebirth of the franchise, and the return of Gozer was something that tied the sequel directly to the original Ghostbusters story.
This time around, there is no word on who the main villain of the movie will be, but as has been pointed out, there are a lot of old ghost tales in the city of London and who knows, the spirit of Jack the Ripper could be just one of the historical specters that could be used in the movie. Of course, there has been a lot of talk of the Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel being a true baton-passer, and that could be another reason for the setting change. Everywhere in the world has ghosts, and if the Ghostbusters are only working in New York, who is the rest of the world going to call. If the movie does set up a new team of U.K. based Ghostbusters, then there is potential spin-off material waiting right there.
Ghostbusters 4 is currently expected to be released in December 2023, which would be a quick turnaround with filming not starting until March, so expect news on whether that date will stick in the near future.