Sunday Scaries: Where Could the ‘Ghostbusters’ Franchise Go Next?

The Sunday Scaries are upon us once again! Yes, as the weekend concludes, most of us feel an oncoming sense of anticipatory dread about the week ahead. Anxiety about work manifests itself into a feeling that’s known as the Sunday Scaries. However, we at Awards Radar are here to combat that, by taking back the name. Now, we want you think about a horror-centric piece on the site when you hear the term. So, let us continue on with another installment of the Awards Radar Sunday Scaries! Today, we’re looking at what we might want to see a popular franchise do next, should they opt to carry on…

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (reviewed here) is currently wrapping up its opening weekend. As the Ghostbusters franchise hopes to capture new fans while pleasing old ones, I’ve been thinking about what could come next. Where could the series go? What should the property hang on to? What should they move on from? These thoughts have been on my mind the past few days, so a Sunday Scaries piece was born…

My hope is that Jason Reitman and company are thinking about similar things right now. I have three points that I think are worth digging into, as you’ll see next. By figuring out what to do in a few key areas, there’s at least one more sequel up are alley that everyone can be excited for. At least, I think so, speaking as someone who has enjoyed all of the Ghostbusters flicks so far.

First up, settling in to New York City seems like an obvious choice, but just pick a location. Ghostbusters: Afterlife obviously packed up and moved to the middle of the country. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire returned to NYC and it was a nice return, location-wise. The firehouse is in New York, after all, so set up shop and just stick with it.

Next, it’s time to finally figure out how involved the original Ghostbusters should be. Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Bill Murray should always be welcome, but especially in Murray’s case, if he’s barely going to be in it, maybe he can move on for good? The cameos work, but I’d love them to actually feel like part of the team still, alongside the Spenglers. If they can’t actually be busting ghosts with Carrie Coon, McKenna Grace, Paul Rudd, and Finn Wolfhard, maybe we can just focus on the latter?

Finally, thin out the cast. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has far too many characters. I loved a new inclusion like Kumail Nanjiani, who should be a full on Ghostbuster in the next movie, but we didn’t need the return of Lucky and Podcast. The same goes for James Acaster, though a basically cameo by Patton Oswalt was amusing. However, why not just make him a part of the team as well? The cast is too big, strangely constructed, and wastes more of them than it should, despite still managing to entertain.

If there’s another Ghostbusters film in our future, following these guidelines wouldn’t be a bad idea. Now, I’ll see the movie regardless, but some sensible decisions and firm sense of where to go next would be a definite positive. There’s still life in this franchise, of that I’m sure. Busting, for lack of a better word, still makes me feel good.

Stay tuned for another Sunday Scaries installment next weekend!