Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Lore & Background

The film's plot follows the Spengler family and their friends relocating to New York City three years after the Summerville incident to aid Winston Zeddemore and Ray Stantz in re-establishing the Ghostbusters. A cursed brass orb sold to Ray and Podcast by Nadeem Razmaadi contains Garraka, a demigod who seeks to conquer humanity by inflicting fear powerful enough to freeze living creatures to death. The orb was invented over four thousand years ago in West Asia by sorcerers known as the Firemasters, who trapped Garraka by exploiting his vulnerability to fire and brass and removing his horns.

Nadeem's grandmother, of the Firemasters' lineage, prevented Garraka from escaping in 1904 after he murdered the Manhattan Adventurers' Society during a mock ritual. The film deepens the franchise's lore by introducing ancient Mesopotamian Arabic ritual markings and the concept of apotropaic traps made from spiritually conductive copper-based alloys.

Reader's Guide

Frozen Empire picks up three years after Afterlife's Summerville incident, with Callie Spengler, Gary Grooberson, Trevor, Phoebe, Lucky and Podcast moving to New York to help Winston Zeddemore and Ray Stantz rebuild the Ghostbusters at the firehouse. The threat arrives as a cursed brass orb that Nadeem Razmaadi sells to Ray: an ancient Firemaster trap holding Garraka, a demigod whose fear can freeze the living to death. Research with librarian Hubert Wartzki at the New York Public Library reveals the orb's history, Mayor Walter Peck condemns the firehouse, and Garraka escapes with help from Melody, a ghost Phoebe befriended.

The veterans and the new team defend the firehouse together, Nadeem discovers his Firemaster heritage, and Ray turns the containment unit into a giant trap to beat Garraka. Gil Kenan directs from a script he wrote with Jason Reitman; Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace lead, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts return, and Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt join. The film is dedicated to Ivan Reitman, who died before its release.

Did You Know?

• Principal photography began on March 20, 2023, in London and at Winnersh Film Studios and Shinfield Studios, under the working title Firehouse.
• Dario Marianelli composed the film's score, replacing Afterlife composer Rob Simonsen; it was his second collaboration with director Gil Kenan after A Boy Called Christmas (2021).
• The film's world premiere was held at the AMC Lincoln Square Theater in New York City on March 14, 2024.
• Japanese girl group Atarashii Gakko! released a track called 'Ghostbusters: Frozen Summer' as a collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan on March 7, 2024.