The Ghostbusters franchise is certainly one that has shown an ability to survive the test of time. Even though only one of the first two films is generally regarded as any good, the Ghostbusters name was still enough to greenlight both a reboot and a legacy sequel in recent years. Ghostbusters: Afterlife was a big enough hit that the legacy sequel has spawned a Ghostbusters sequel of its own, but where will the franchise go from there? Dan Aykroyd has an idea.
The as-yet-untitled sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife recently wrapped production at Leavesden Studios in the UK. While the sets will stand in for American locations, Aykroyd recently told the Daily Mail that he has enjoyed working in and visiting the surrounding area, so much so that he actually has an idea for a Ghostbusters movie that would be set in the UK, not simply be filmed there. He explained…
I love working with the British crew, they’re superb. The studios are state of the art and vie with anything we have in Hollywood. And I have an idea for a sequel I would set here in the UK. There are lots of ghosts and mythical creatures in Scotland. I put a thousand miles on the car driving up there and it was wonderful. I went to Skye, to the Glencoe valley, Edinburgh, Glasgow… I loved it.
A Ghostbusters movie set in the U.K. would certainly be a very different sort of thing for the franchise. But considering the very different places it has been already, maybe such a thing isn’t a completely crazy idea. He’s not wrong about the mythical creatures one can find there. The Ghostbusters vs. the Loch Ness Monster sounds a little wild, but who knows? Maybe it could work.
Little is known about exactly how the new movie will follow the last one. The Ghostbusters: Afterlife ending certainly indicated that the classic Ghostbusters crew might be going back to work. It’s been confirmed the original Ghostbusters will once again return, though the size of the roles is unclear. Still, one assumes that the focus of the new movie will be on the same younger generation that made up the core Ghostbusters: Afterlife cast of previous film. Why they might end up in England or Scotland fighting ghosts is even harder to imagine than the OG Ghostbusters, but honestly, if the rest of the movie worked, audiences would likely overlook a slightly clunky premise.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife was a solid box office hit which was something of a surprise considering it came out during a time when audiences hadn’t b been as willing to return to theaters following the pandemic closure. There is obviously a feeling that under even more favorable conditions, a new Ghostbusters movie could be a smash. We’ll find out when it comes out next year.