The latest version of “Ghostbusters: Answer the Call” features an original slant on the hit ’80s film. The new animated adventure from Sony/Columbia Pictures, and inspired by the 2016 film starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, follows four girls who inherit the same ghost-catching tools (such as the Ecto-1 car, the slimey Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and Winston’s ghost-hunting hammer) as the original bunch. In lieu of Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Bill Murray, New York City’s firefighters open the film, fighting an old flame of someone who died in the crossfire in the past. (Bill Quigley, who reprised his role as Ed Koch, was a no-show for the film because of the actor’s complications from a potentially life-threatening lung disease.)
But while it retains the comedy and outrage over Trump’s suggestion of letting a terrorist off the hook, the film itself is drawn from much more recent past. The heroes won’t have to save New York City from terrorists anymore. Now they’ll have to defend the city from a new plague: ghosts from children. The movie also shows Ghostbusters getting down with classic ’80s music from Tears for Fears, Cyndi Lauper, George Michael and Lady Gaga, plus a modern soundtrack with A Tribe Called Quest, Post Malone and 21 Savage.
All of these new elements expand the “Ghostbusters” brand at a time when the original and the “Ghostbusters II” are enjoying their highest-grossing box office as part of a simultaneous reboot. “Ghostbusters II” has grossed $490 million worldwide since its release in 1989, while “Ghostbusters” is in the top 20 box office successes of all time with nearly $750 million.
Read the full story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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