We have finally seen footage from Paul Feig’s rebooted Ghostbusters and it looks perfect. But hidden in all of that action was a lot of information about the characters and the plot, as well as plenty of Easter eggs referring to the original movie. Here’s the trailer, broken down for you.
(If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, go watch it here!)
The firehouse is the first homage this trailer gives us. We also have the trailer saying that Ghostbusters is about “four scientists”, which is inaccurate, but presumably “three scientists and one other dude” was just too long.
Also, we see the firehouse here — and we know from Paul Feig’s twitter account that they filmed there — but we never see the team working out of it in the actual trailer. They have an old Chinese restaurant as an HQ instead. So, is this where they end up when they’re successful at the end? Or just a shot added in as an homage?
And right from the firehouse to a graffiti version of the classic logo.
I implore you to always look at Kate McKinnon’s face, even when she’s just in the background. It’s always hilarious.
The whole beginning of the trailer leans hard on homage and reference to the original Ghostbusters. This ghost and slime moment — in what looks more like a museum than a library, even if there are certainly plenty of books around — is very similar to the ghost encounter that started the original.
The three scientists in what I’m assuming to be Holtzmann’s (McKinnon) lab. It doesn’t quote look like the Chinese restaurant seen later, so this is probably from earlier in the film.
Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) stumbles onto a ghost in the subway. If you were wondering how a subway worker ends up a ghostbuster, you have your answer.
This is cut to make it look like Tolan stumbled onto a whole group of ghosts, but the background window designs make it clear that this is somewhere else, and clearly not the subway tunnel Tolan is in. (Side note: are all ghosts from the ’20s and ’30s? Is that a requirement?)
What is a requirement is scared crowds running through New York City. Otherwise it’s not Ghostbusters.
Here’s a good, up-close look at the new proton packs. Director Paul Feig said that seeing the team “make” the gear was very important to him. And they certainly look properly cobbled together.
Plus, you can see Holtzmann working on it in this shot, right as we get to the obligatory character introductions. We don’t have one for Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy), who does most of the talking. But she is supposedly an expert in the supernatural whose previous work with Gilbert embarrasses the professor.
“Holtzmann, you’re a brilliant engineer,” says Yates as Holtzmann tests what looks like a pretty intense ghost trap. Like, it appears to be meant for ghost bears.
Again, McKinnon’s face is a national treasure.
“Erin, no one’s better at quantum physics than you,” Yates continues. Erin Gilbert is, in another Ghostbusters homage, a semi-disgraced Columbia professor — disgraced in that her work on ghosts with Yates is not exactly embraced by the university.
On Gilbert’s physics board, there’s this notation at the top, which will lead you to this website and a behind-the-scenes video with a scientific advisor, concept art of the gear and fake “schematics”.
Yates says they can do some real good, and we have the dynamic pretty much set up. Gilbert is the reluctant hero, Holtzmann the eccentric genius and Yates is the enthusiastic believer.
And Tolan is the everyman. I swear to god, Leslie Jones smiles in most of this trailer, and it fills me with joy.
Tolan brings the hearse, which will eventually become the Ecto-1. Yates is less than pleased, while Holtzmann is delighted. I said to keep an eye on McKinnon, right?
A brief introduction to the Ecto-1 and a good look at the restaurant the team works out of.
The Ecto-1 races through Washington Square, but nowhere in the trailer is the Ecto-2, a motorcycle Kevin (Chris Hemsworth) has been spotted on.
Feig has said that the relationship between Yates and Gilbert is the centre of the film, and we can certainly see it in this interaction. Meant to be the hero shot, it’s interrupted by neither Yates nor Gilbert knowing who is taking the lead.
The Ecto-1 looks great at night. That is all.
The team is fighting something that’s releasing ghosts into the city, much like the original. And the green bursts do call back that film.
Here’s Slimer, in another required homage.
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“Someone is creating a device that amplifies paranormal activity, and we might be the only ones who can stop it,” says Gilbert, leading into a joke where Holtzmann puts on a funny hat. Nothing in this film is to be taken too seriously.
So, not just ghosts who look like humans, but a super-tall circus (maybe?) ghost? Times Square has seen weirder.
Acting cool with the proton packs.
Notice the ghost swirls behind Holtzmann, which puts this scene after the erupting ghost fountain one from earlier in the trailer.
There’s a lot to unpack in this short scene. First, it looks like either Yates is surrounded completely by ghosts or that she and Ecto-1 got transported to the other side. Second, the proton pack can be discharged through a punch? Third, why are most ghosts just watching? What’s with the attacking one?
This looks like they’re crossing the streams.
This is the only shot the trailer gives us of Kevin, the receptionist. This is a shame, because I need to know if he lives up to Janine’s legacy.
Yates gets a face full of ghost and is possessed. This is the most we see of a full scene from the movie, and I’d guess it comes in the middle — an experience that tells them about what they’re up against. Also, notice that Gilbert is nowhere to be found in this scene. Is she out investigating? Or does she quit and come back?
Anyway, the now possessed Yates (notice how good McCarthy is at changing her whole body language) grabs Holtzmann and shoves her through a window.
And the amateur proves herself by saving them both.
Yates gets her Exorcism on.
And we end with the classic joke of one slap too many. One slap gets rid of the ghost, the extra just hurts your friend.