Ghostbusters: Afterlife Trailer Reportedly Set to Release This Week

The Ghostbusters 2020 reboot / direct sequel Ghostbusters: Afterlife has been on fans' radar ever since director Jason Reitman revealed the surprise first teaser for the project, at the beginning of this year. Now, as 2019 closes out, word is in that the first trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife is set to drop this week! A new industry report is giving everyone the heads up that as of today, Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer has been officially rated in the UK's BBFC, which means the trailer is arriving at theater chains soon, for its official premiere.

Here's the official trailer rating for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, according to Trailer Track:

The timing for the Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer dropping in this window of time makes total sense. December will be filled with the slate of holiday season movies coming out - and one of the biggest ones will no doubt be Jumanji: The Next Level, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Kevin Hart. The first installment of the franchise, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, was a major family-friendly crowd-pleasure that dropped in December of 2017; Ghostbusters: Afterlife will fit the same kind of genre mold. Since both films are being released through Sony Pictures, it makes perfect sense that the studio would want to use Jumanji as the official launcpad for Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Jumanji 2 hits UK theaters this week (US theaters next week), so the trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife could conceivably drop any time now.

As of late, it's been confirmed that the original Ghostbusters actors are returning or Afterlife - at least the surviving ones (Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Bill Murray). Ghostbusters actor Harold Ramis (dead since 2014) will getting a fitting tribute in the film; fans expect the usual Easter egg reference to Ramis (see: the female Ghostbusters reboot), but Ghostbusters: Afterlife will also reportedly revolve around Ramis. Rumor has it the angle that Jason Reitman found into the story was using the death of Ramis' character, Egon Spengler, to introduce Egon's surviving family, who pick up the Ghostbusters legacy for a new case. Ramis may even appear in the film, in some unused footage from the original Ghostbusters that Ivan Reitman has been teasing:

"In making this movie, we found something kind of extraordinary. We went to Sony, and we said, 'We'd really love to get back into the original dailies from 1984. Do you still have them?' And we found them," Reitman said. "They were in a mine in Kansas, and we shipped the boxes to Burbank. We've been going through the footage for reasons I cannot tell you, but along the way we found some really cool stuff."

That story angle leaves room for Ghostbusters: Afterlife to 'pass the torch' as it were, with a new generation stepping up to take on the mantle. That new generation could include Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things, IT), Mckenna Grace (Annabelle Comes Home) and other young stars like Oliver Cooper (Project X), Sydney Mae Diaz (Ironfist), and Celeste O'Connor.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife hits theaters on July 10, 2020. Look for the trailer to debut sometime this week!