Following Paul Feig's 2016 reboot, the Ghostbusters franchise is getting back to canon this summer with the release of Jason Reitman's Ghostbusters: Afterlife. As seen in the recently released trailer, there will be many elements from the original films brought back in this new one, including the legendary Ecto-1 – but if you're an automobile aficionado worrying about the state of the classic vehicle, don't worry: the car fans will see in the new movie is not the EXACT same one that was used back in the mid-1980s.
USA Today has run a preview of some of the big films set to hit theaters in the next 12 months, and the quick bit about Ghostbusters: Afterlife primarily focuses on the new movie's connection to the larger legacy, and what fans can expect from the new Ecto-1 (including a new image of the vehicle from the film). In the piece, it's explained that the production opted not to use the original car from the first Ghostbusters, which is still safe in storage on the Sony Picture lot in Los Angeles, and instead tracked down a different 1959 Cadillac to convert into the titular team's favorite mode of transportation.
You can check out the new still from Ghostbusters: Afterlife below, featuring actress McKenna Grace as Phoebe sitting in the passenger seat of the Ecto-1 while wearing a Proton Pack. It's not terribly easy to tell who is sitting in the driver's seat, primarily because the windshield is so dirty, but based on the trailer the best bet is Finn Wolfhard as Phoebe's brother Trevor.
Written by Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan, Ghostubsters: Afterlife centers on Callie (Carrie Coon), the mother of Phoebe and Trevor, who finds herself evicted from her home and forced to move to a farm in Summerville, Oklahoma that she inherited from her grandfather. During their stay, they start to uncover the forgotten history of the Ghostbusters, primarily through a mystery surrounding on-going earthquakes that are rattling the town.
Per USA Today, both Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray are set to reprise their roles as Dr. Raymond "Ray" Stantz and Dr. Peter Venkman, respectively, but they aren't the only stars from the original duology that are set to come back. Fans will also see the return of Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore, Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett, and Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz. Also set to play new characters in the movie are both Paul Rudd, as a teacher named Mr. Grooberson, and Bokeem Woodbine as the local sheriff.
We still have quite a while to wait for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, as Sony has positioned the film to be their big blockbuster of the upcoming summer season with a July 10th release date. That's a fair amount of time for one to spend patiently tapping one's foot or twiddling one's thumbs, but the positive way to look at things is that the next few months will surely see the reveal of all kinds of new stills, posters, and trailers that fans can obsess over in the run up to opening weekend.
