Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Unleashes New Villains to Battle Old Faces in First Icy Trailer

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is about to send temperatures plunging with the first teaser trailer for the highly anticipated follow up to 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Having successfully reintroduced the franchise to a new generation, taking back the mantle from the ill-fated 2016 reboot, the cast has now returned for more, with a new villain bringing a cruel summer to the Big Apple. Check out the trailer above, and a gallery of images below.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife suffered a number of delays thanks to the Covid pandemic, and while the post-pandemic box office was by no means stunning, it was enough to give Sony the incentive to green-light a follow-up. As teased by the post-credits scene of Afterlife, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire will bring the franchise back to New York and the iconic firehouse of the original movies. The official synopsis reads:

In Ghostbusters: 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.

Having wrapped filming earlier in the year, producer Jason Reitman, who directed Ghostbusters: Afterlife, has periodically been sharing images from behind the scenes of the production. These revealed the returns of Afterlife’s Paul Rudd as Mr Grooberson and franchise veteran Ernie Hudson reprising his role as Winston Zeddemore, as well as the first look at original Ghostbusters “villain” Walter Peck, the Environmental Protection Officer played again by William Atherton.

Other members of the cast confirmed for some time are Carrie Coon as Egon Spengler’s daughter Callie, and Finn Wolfhard and McKenna Grace as Trevor and Phoebe, the Ghostbusting legend’s grandchildren. As well as keeping the plot of the new round of spook-blasting fun under wraps throughout the production, the status of the other original Ghostbusters, Bill Murray’s Peter Venkman and Dan Aykroyd’s Ray Stantz, was also kept a secret until now.

Related: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Sequel: Plot, Cast, and Everything Else We Know

Can Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Deliver a Worthy Sequel?

In 1984, the Ghostbusters became pop culture icons, and as well as spawning a 1989 sequel, the franchise has expanded into animated TV shows, comic books and every kind of merchandise imaginable. Despite failing to deliver a third live-action starring the original cast members until 2021’s belated sequel, the demand for the old crew to return to bust more specters has always been there.

The box office of Ghostbusters: Afterlife ended on a worldwide gross of $204.3 million from its modest $75 million budget, and while that doesn’t sound in the same league as mega blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick or Barbie, it still landed the movie the tenth-highest gross of the year.

It would not be hard to believe that Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is sure to exceed the box office of its predecessor with ease, but the uncertainty of the 2023 box office is something that could spill over in 2024 thanks to the continued SAG-AFTRA strike and the reported impact of streaming on cinemas. However, Sony are well known for standing by theatrical releases, even when under pressure to release movies straight to streaming during the pandemic. For this reason, the large fan base of the Ghostbusters franchise could be more inclined to head out to cinemas to catch the film on the big screen.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is released in March 2024.