Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire star Carrie Coon, who plays Callie Spengler, reveals she hasn’t read a script yet for a possible sequel. While promoting her upcoming movie Lake George, the actress was asked about the iconic horror-comedy franchise’s future, and based on her comments, it sounds like a new installment is still in the earliest stages of development.
“I have not [seen a script],” Coon said in an interview with ComicBook. “The joke is always that Callie is dead from alcoholism and comes back as a nagging ghost. But I suspect that’s probably not the direction they’re going.”
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Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the sequel to 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, premiered back in March, grossing $201.9 million worldwide against a $100 million production budget. While that box office total is comparable to Afterlife ($204.3 million), it’s important to mention Afterlife was less expensive to make ($75 million budget) and opened when theaters were just starting to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, Frozen Empire was seen as a disappointment, but director Gil Kenan has said more Ghostbusters movies are on the way.
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It’s unknown where the story will go following Frozen Empire, but audiences should expect to see more of Egon’s granddaughter, Phoebe Spengler (McKenna Grace). Kenan actually refers to the two most recent films as “the Phoebe Spengler saga,” highlighting the character’s importance to the filmmakers’ overall vision. Kenan and Afterlife director Jason Reitman (who served as a co-writer and producer on Frozen Empire) see their installments as a story about family, with Phoebe at the center of it all.
Despite Kenan’s enthusiasm about new Ghostbusters films, a Frozen Empire sequel hasn’t officially been given the green light yet. It remains to be seen if Sony will move forward with such a project. Frozen Empire earned mostly negative reviews, which, combined with the underwhelming box office, suggests general audiences might not be so interested in the franchise anymore. While Frozen Empire performed well on Netflix over the summer, that isn’t indicative of how a sequel will perform in theaters. Streaming something for free at home can be a more appealing option than paying for a ticket.
Still, the Ghostbusters property has earned over $1 billion globally, meaning Sony may not want to just keep it on the shelf. It’s still a recognizable brand, and if a new movie is better received, it could turn a nice profit. Outside of Spider-Man and a new Jumanji installment, the studio doesn’t have much in terms of lucrative tentpoles. With that in mind, going back to the Ghostbusters well to see if Kenan and Reitman can deliver a strong continuation of Phoebe’s saga could be their best bet.