‘Called up from the Reserves’: Original Ghostbusters Return in New Film

Director Jason Reitman poses for photographers as he arrives for the world premiere of the film "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" in Manhattan, in New York City, New York, US, November 15, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Director Jason Reitman poses for photographers as he arrives for the world premiere of the film "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" in Manhattan, in New York City, New York, US, November 15, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Segar
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‘Called up from the Reserves’: Original Ghostbusters Return in New Film

Director Jason Reitman poses for photographers as he arrives for the world premiere of the film "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" in Manhattan, in New York City, New York, US, November 15, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Director Jason Reitman poses for photographers as he arrives for the world premiere of the film "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" in Manhattan, in New York City, New York, US, November 15, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Segar

It's a family affair both on and off screen in the new "Ghostbusters" movie as writer and director Jason Reitman brings his father's film franchise to a new generation.

Jason said he had the characters for "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" in his head for a long time and when he reached out with the idea to his father, Ivan Reitman, who directed the first two films, the elder Reitman cried.

"One day I knew what the ending of the movie was, and that's when I know I'm going to make something," Jason said at the movie's premiere in New York on Monday night. "I knew it was time."

In the new film, we see a single mother played by Carrie Coon move with her two children to a small town to reconnect with her estranged father's side of the family. They end up learning things they could have never imagined.

The original Ghostbusters Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson suit up for the new film and called the experience joyful.

"I felt I was being called up from the reserves to go back into service and step up and take care of things. And it was very organic the way we were in there," said Aykroyd.

"This movie's been such a big part of my life for so many years," Hudson said. "When we got into the jumpsuits ... I was kind of emotionally moved, I was teared up. It's great."

Coon highlighted the elements of female empowerment and love in the film.

"I love that the center of our story is a nerdy girl scientist. I mean, I think that's a wonderful invitation for the future," she said.

The new outing is packed with young stars including Finn Wolfhard, Logan Kim and McKenna Grace, who has a song on the film's soundtrack.

People magazine's newest sexist man alive, actor Paul Rudd and JK Simmons also star in the movie.

The film hits US theaters on Nov. 19.



George Lucas Brings the Force to Comic-Con in Historic First Visit 

US filmmaker George Lucas speaks during the Sneak Peek of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art panel in Hall H of the convention center during Comic-Con International in San Diego, California on July 27, 2025. (AFP)
US filmmaker George Lucas speaks during the Sneak Peek of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art panel in Hall H of the convention center during Comic-Con International in San Diego, California on July 27, 2025. (AFP)
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George Lucas Brings the Force to Comic-Con in Historic First Visit 

US filmmaker George Lucas speaks during the Sneak Peek of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art panel in Hall H of the convention center during Comic-Con International in San Diego, California on July 27, 2025. (AFP)
US filmmaker George Lucas speaks during the Sneak Peek of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art panel in Hall H of the convention center during Comic-Con International in San Diego, California on July 27, 2025. (AFP)

Comic-Con fans pulled out their lightsabers Sunday to welcome "Star Wars" creator George Lucas to the prominent pop culture convention for the very first time.

Attendees lined up for hours to grab a seat inside the 6,500-person capacity venue in San Diego, California to see the legendary filmmaker behind the "Indiana Jones" franchise speak at the event on its final day.

Comic-Con, which draws some 130,000 attendees, has become an important platform for movie studios and their stars to showcase the latest film and television offerings, especially those with a genre fan base.

"We've been waiting five decades for this!" said panel moderator Queen Latifah, who oversaw the discussion by Lucas and other filmmakers.

Instead of discussing his film works, however, Lucas graced the convention to preview the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art -- opening in Los Angeles in 2026 -- which the director co-founded with his wife, businesswoman Mellody Hobson.

"I've been collecting art since I was in college," Lucas, 81, told the crowd, adding that he has amassed tens of thousands of pieces in his collection.

"I've been doing this for 50 years now, and then it occurred to me that what am I going to do with it all because I, I refuse to sell it.

"I could never do that, it's just, it's not what I think art is -- I think it's more about an emotional connection," the director said.

In his description of the museum, Lucas said the institution will feature a blend of works.

They include illustrations by Normal Rockwell, Jessie Willcox Smith and N.C. Wyeth; artworks by Frida Kahlo, Jacob Lawrence, Charles White and Robert Colescott; and pieces by cartoonists and artists like Winsor McCay, Frank Frazetta and Jack Kirby.

The museum, housed in a sleek, curved building, will also feature items from Lucas's films and other exclusive pieces.

For the "Star Wars" mastermind, the museum aims to be a tribute to the importance of narrative art.

"When you're born, the baseline is fear. And as you go through life, you're curious about things, but you're especially curious about things you don't understand, and therefore that's a threat to you.

"And as a result, you make up stories to make it feel good," he continued.

"Science fiction is a myth... but we've made it real because of science fiction books and art."

- 'A critical moment' -

Among the other members of the panel were Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro and production designer Doug Chiang, who shaped the aesthetic of the "Star Wars" universe for decades.

"What's remarkable about George is that he leads from the heart, and this museum is him," Chiang said.

Del Toro, who will release his latest film "Frankenstein" in November, said many of the museum's pieces will celebrate freedom of speech.

"We are in a critical moment in which one of the things they like to disappear is the past, you know, and this is memorializing a popular, vociferous, expressive and eloquent moment in our visual past that belongs to all of us," Del Toro said.

The fantasy filmmaker also described comics as a medium with "a lot of social conscience" and joked that comic artists "were the first one to punch a Nazi" in their works.

"What a panel!" said attendee Jesse Goldwater, who traveled to San Diego from Los Angeles.

"They are the embodiment of Comic-Con itself, without them Comic-Con wouldn't exist."