The newly released trailer for Jason Reitman's Ghostbusters: Afterlife, released Monday morning, is facing criticism from some Internet users over a resemblance to 1980s-set supernatural Netflix series Stranger Things. In Afterlife, the long-awaited third film and followup to Ivan Reitman's 1984 Ghostbusters and its 1989 sequel Ghostbusters II, the estranged family of a former Ghostbuster relocate to a small town in Oklahoma, where they soon discover supernatural happenings: single mom Callie (Carrie Coon), science-obsessed daughter Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) and gearhead son Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) begin to suspect something strange in their neighborhood, spurring Phoebe and Trevor to act as part of a new generation of Ghostbusters.
"The new Ghostbusters movie is gonna be a Stranger Things ripoff," tweeted one person. Reads another tweet, "Just watched the new Stranger Things season trailer, and it's called 'Ghostbusters' for some reason."
Both Stranger Things and Afterlife star Wolfhard as a small town teen forced to confront the paranormal. Wolfhard once admitted he believed his Stranger Things role would prevent him from starring in the new Ghostbusters, telling The Hollywood Reporter over the summer, "I was auditioning, and for that exact reason, I thought, 'Jason Reitman is probably not even going to look at my tape because I've already done it in Stranger Things.' I guess he just identified a lot with my tape, and it ended up working out for the best."
Wolfhard played a "Ghostbuster" in Season 2 of the hit Netflix show when his character, Mike, donned a screen-accurate Ghostbusters uniform as part of a group Halloween costume.
"I'm really excited. It's genuinely a really beautiful film, and I'm really excited for people to see it," Wolfhard previously told Entertainment Tonight of Afterlife. "It's really faithful [to the first two movies]."
Ghostbusters: Afterlife opens July 10, 2020.