Please Enjoy the Ceaseless Parade of Callbacks That Is the Full Trailer for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

We ask this with all sincerity: How long can the current model of legacy sequels continue on, spitting out updated versions of our favorite properties from the 1980s while audiences clap and bark at nostalgic references like trained seals? How many iterations of films in the mold of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire can possibly be successful before the cynics among us spread our discontent to the regular public, who become fed up with these shameful, creatively bankrupt movies? How many trailers like this new Frozen Empire one can any of us watch before disgust is the only emotion left to feel?

Because even by legacy sequel trailer standards, this newly released collection of footage is really a doozy. This is callbacks-on-callbacks, treating every single joke from the Ivan Reitman-directed 1984 original as a sacred object of reverence that must be referenced or repeated verbatim. The ghost from the NYC public library? She’s back. Janine Melnitz barking “Ghostbusters, whadd’ya want?!?” into the station telephone? That’s back. EPA pencil-pusher Walter Peck as an anti-Ghostbuster bureaucrat? That’s totally back, despite actor William Atherton (the classic Die Hard tertiary antagonist as well) sounding so shaky in his voiceover that it’s not even initially clear this is the same character. Everything is back! Including The Real Ghostbusters mascot Slimer, of course. You can’t ratchet up the pandering properly without Slimer in tow.

Moreover, it’s not even enough to provide wish fulfillment such as Janine becoming a suit-wearing member of the Ghostbusters team. No, you need to have a character like Bill Murray’s Peter Venkman literally announce to the audience: “Melnitz in uniform, yeah!”, as if the people in the seats wouldn’t know to be happy about this otherwise.

Frozen Empire doesn’t even settle for only being nostalgic for the original Ghostbusters, though, also seemingly reprising gags that are only a couple years old such as Ghostbusters: Afterlife‘s mini-Stay Puft Marshmallow Men. Directed by Gil Kenan after Jason Reitman stepped down from the chair–he still co-wrote this entry–the film returns the last installment’s main players in the form of Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Celeste O’Connor and Logan Kim, along with returning veterans Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts. This time around, they’re joined by Patton Oswalt, James Acaster and the still-muscular face of Kumail Nanjiani, all tasked with preventing New York City from being frozen into a paranormal block of ice.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empier is set for wide release in the U.S. on March 22, 2024. You can bathe in the tepid water of those countless 1980s references in the new trailer below.