From time to time you come across the odd thing on social media that at first seems like something to get excited about, but after a little investigation turns out to be complete and utter bullshit.
I’m kind of used to it now and have learned never to share something that claims to be true before checking that it actually is.
I stumbled on this image yesterday and it immediately caught my attention. Being the cynical type that I am though I headed straight to Google to do some “Columbo style” investigating and found it to be true!
Although it’s very early days at this point with the co-writer and director of the last film, Jason Reitman only recently announcing that they plan to start writing the script, it’s official that we are in fact getting another Ghostbusters sequel.
Now, if you’ve been following this page for a while you’ll no doubt have seen my post about the last movie, Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021). If that’s the case you’ll know that I wasn’t quite as wowed by the movie as the rest of the film-watching public seemed to be. Still, despite not being blown away, I did enjoy it, and seeing this teaser image to another sequel has (I have to admit) got me a little excited.
One thing bothers me though…
According to the fan-made image (and other sources, including Jason Reitman himself via the official Ghostbusters Twitter page) this new Ghostbusters film is codenamed, “Firehouse” (that doesn’t necessarily mean that will be the film’s official title). The poster shows a shot of Winston (one of the original Ghostbusters) from the post credit scene of Ghostbusters: Afterlife walking back in to the infamous firehouse that’s since seen better days.
But wait a minute!!
Didn’t Dan Aykroyd’s character Ray say earlier in the last movie that the firehouse was now a Starbucks?!
I can’t say I’d really thought about it till now but it’s since got me thinking: Is it a huge and lazy plot hole or a deliberate, well thought out detail?
You see, in the movie [SPOILER ALERT] it transpires that Winston (played by Ernie Hudson) is now a very successful businessman who’s done pretty well for himself over the years. In a post credit scene he tells Janine Melnitz that he’s been paying the rent on Ray’s book shop, “Ray’s Occult” for decades. In an earlier scene in the movie Ray tells Egon’s granddaughter, Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) during a phone conversation that, “We could barely keep up our mortgage…Some actor bought up most of Tribeca and we lost the firehouse. It’s a Starbucks now.”
So what’s going on?
I’ve checked out screenshots from the original film and from the post-credit scene in Afterlife and it’s definitely the same firehouse. If it’s not a plot hole does this mean Ray has only heard it was turned into a Starbucks and has somehow not passed by in 30 plus years???
There is another possible explanation that I’m unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you see it) unable to verify due to having not seen the film.
According to an article I read online the Starbucks reference could be a nod to something that’s said in the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Chris Hemsworth. Again though, having not seen the film I can’t really comment, but if any of you can shed some light on it I’m all ears.
Whatever the explanation is I’m looking forward to seeing where they go with another film, especially with one of the original cast appearing to have a more significant role than in the last movie.
Will the rest of the original Ghostbusters be back? Will the story continue to focus on Egon’s family or will it be an entirely new adventure altogether? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…
What do you think about all of this?
Let me know in the comments.👇