While holding on to nostalgia for the classic 1984 film may be natural, the upcoming Netflix animated series is unlikely to mirror its predecessor’s tone and style.
According to recent reports from Selection, Netflix has finally given the go-ahead to its Ghostbusters animated series, which has been in development since at least 2022. According to sources familiar with the matter, comedian and writer Elliott Kalan has been brought on board by Selection as both author and executive producer. Kalan appears a fitting match for the Ghostbusters franchise, given his background as lead author on the 2017 season of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and previous comic book writing credits – he’s the mind behind that oft-memed Spider-Man series featuring an anthropomorphic pterodactyl capable of curing cancer, but driven to turn people into dinosaurs instead.
Although information on the new animated Ghostbusters series is scarce, it’s disappointing to note that fans of the original 1980s franchise, which featured 2D animation, may be dismayed by the revelation that this iteration will instead utilize 3D animation. According to sources, the upcoming film may adopt a tone consistent with the more recent Ghostbusters movies, suggesting fans should not expect nods to the classic SNL-cast humor found in earlier iterations.
The co-writers behind Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Ghostbusters: Beyond (2022), Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan, have signed on as executive producers for this film, which draws inspiration from their previous work, making a similar tone unsurprising.
This animated series marks the third installment in the Ghostbusters franchise, following the original and Excessive Ghostbusters, which debuted several years after The Real Ghostbusters concluded its run. The franchise’s final installment until the 2016 reboot, Ghostbusters, which was later soft-rebooted again in 2021 with Afterlife, a direct sequel to 1989’s Ghostbusters II.
Afterlife’s box office performance was respectable, garnering $204 million from a $75 million budget. In contrast, this year’s Frozen Empire underperformed, earning $202 million on a $100 million investment. Will we see if the Ghostbusters aren’t heading to the afterlife themselves sooner than this animated series drops?
