After the terrible 2016 reboot, hopes were high for Ghostbusters: Afterlife. The legacy sequel was essentially billed as Ghostbusters 3, picking up where the second installment left off 32 years previously. Jason Reitman (son of Ivan) was at the helm to keep it in the family, and though the focus was on a new generation of young characters, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and Sigourney Weaver all reprised their classic roles.
What more could audiences want? Well, it turns out there’s such a thing as too much fan service for even the most dedicated Ghostbusters supporter- with the general consensus that it leaned a little too hard on the nostalgia button.
Afterlife went on to earn a respectable $205 million at the box office, especially when taking into account that it was made for a relatively svelte $75 million. Now, it seems that audiences who didn’t turn up for its theatrical run are checking it out on streaming because it hit the #1 spot last week on Hulu in the US, as per FlixPatrol.
This continued success bodes well for the future. Soon after the release, Dan Aykroyd expressed an interest in returning for multiple sequels, while box office analysts said that Afterlife‘s performance should “encourage Sony to forge ahead with new installments. Those hopes bore fruit last month, when the studio confirmed that a sequel was indeed in early development.
Let’s hope we get to hear more about it soon, particularly given that the post-credits tease indicates that New York City may be facing another supernatural outbreak in the near future.