SOMETHING STRANGE

Ghostbusters old and new fight for Manhattan…

Is a cold snap hitting New York worse than dogs and cats living together? We’ll soon find out…

The sting at the end of the Oklahoma-set Ghostbusters: Afterlife suggested that any sequel would take the action back to New York, and so it proves in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Yes, Ghostbusters HQ will again be real-life Tribeca firehouse Hook & Ladder 8. ‘I love this building so much,’ posted Gil Kenan on social media. Kenan here directs after co-writing Afterlife with Jason Reitman.

It warms the cockles we’re back – bustin’ really does make you feel good – but the Big Apple is under a deep freeze, with an ancient artefact threatening to bring on a second ice age. Good job the Spengler family – Egon’s granddaughter Phoebe (McKenna Grace), her bro Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and mom Callie (Carrie Coon) – are settling into their duties, while OG ’busters Venkman (Bill Murray), Winston (Ernie Hudson) and Ray (Dan Aykroyd) are also strapping on proton packs to play a bigger part in the story this time out. Also returning is Paul Rudd’s Gary Grooberson, while Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt have joined the franchise.

Pleasingly, Reitman, whose dad Ivan directed the originals, stays on as co-writer and producer. He says of Kenan taking the reins, ‘I can only hope to provide him the same care and support my father showed me.’

NEXT GHOUL WINS

It’s showtime…

Before Batman, before Edward Scissorhands, before, er, Planet of the Apes, Tim Burton gifted the world horror-comedy Beetlejuice. Instantly iconic, it was the movie that made him, and there’s been talks of a sequel since its 1988 release. ‘I love Lydia so much,’ said Winona Ryder in 2013, referring to her teen Goth who can see the ghosts of the couple who previously lived in her family’s new house. They then turn to unruly, untrustworthy, undead ‘bio-exorcist’ Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) to scare off these pesky humans. ‘She was such a huge part of me,’ continued Ryder. ‘I would be really interested in what she is doing 25 years later.’

And now it’s really happening, perhaps spurred by the Tony Award-winning 2018 musical, or by Hollywood’s current fondness for legacy sequels. The plot’s under wraps, but Burton, Ryder and Keaton are all returning, along with Catherine O’Hara as Lydia’s stepmom Delia Deetz. They’ll be joined by Wednesday star Jenna Ortega as Lydia’s daughter, Monica Bellucci as Betelgeuse’s wife, and Willem Dafoe as an afterlife enforcement officer. ‘I tried to strip everything and go back to the basics of working with good people and actors and puppets,’ Burton has said. ‘It was kind of like going back to why I liked making movies.’ JAMIE GRAHAM