When is the premiere of ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’? Release date, cast and trailer

New York City is in the grip of a ‘Death Chill’ putting the city and the rest of the world at serious risk of plummeting into a Second Ice Age, who you gonna call? The world premiere of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the highly anticipated sequel to 2021′s Ghostbusters: Afterlife will take place in New York City this evening - one whole week before its theatrical release on Friday 22 March. Invites to both tonight’s premiere and a screening in London planned for the 18th were randomly selected and sent out to Facebook followers earlier this week. The cast and crew will be attending both events.

Ghostbusters old and new

In Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the Spengler family decide to leave Summerville, Oklahoma and return to FDNY Hook & Ladder 8 firehouse at 14 North Moore Street, Manhattan, to meet up with the original Ghostbusters. Peter Venkman, PhD and his team have set up a top-secret research lab with the hope of taking busting ghosts “to the next level!”. However, things take a turn for the worse when an ancient artifact is accidentally discovered. It unleashes an “unimaginable evil” which commands an “army of the undead,” including every ghost they’ve ever caught. The new generation of Ghostbusters join forces with the original crew and take to the Ecto-1 to save the world.

Sony released the first teaser trailer in November followed by a 2:39 minute official trailer on 29 January. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire suffered a number of delays during production and was affected by the American actors’ union SAG-AFTRA strike which dragged on for nearly five months. It was originally scheduled for general release in late December but due to delays, it will hit US theaters on Friday 22 March.

“Drop everything, Venkman. We got one.”

A number of familiar faces return for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire - among them, the original Ghostbusters from the 1984 movie: Bill Murray as Dr Peter Venkman, Dan Aykroyd as Dr Raymond “Ray” Stantz, Ernie Hudson as Dr Winston Zeddemore as well as Annie Potts as their secretary, Janine Melnitz. All five also appeared in the 2021 feature film Ghostbusters: Afterlife, along with Paul Rudd (Gary Grooberson), Carrie Coon (Callie Spengler), Finn Wolfhard (Trevor Spengler) and Mckenna Grace (Phoebe Spengler). Another member if the original 1984 cast, William Atherton, who played Environmental Protection Agency inspector, Walter Peck, also makes a return.

“It’s fun that we’ve made something that’s lasted this long,” Bill Murray told CBS Mornings, “That’s really the best part of it. But for the most part is seeing these people (fellow cast members). When we get together and we look at each other and see the pain… we remember the pain of before, the fun of before and the pain and fun of the future. The pain was wearing the damned packs, they were really heavy. Y’know, wearing a pack a long time ago was miserable, wearing one now is like torture”.

Emily Alyn Lind is one of the new characters but it is not known what role she was assigned - with some speculation that she could feature as a love interest for Trevor Spengler (Finn Wolfhard) or perhaps a villain. Among the new faces are Patton Oswalt (Dr. Hubert Wartzki), Kumail Nanjiani (Nadeem Razmaadi), and English comedian James Acaster (Lars Pinfield).

Also among the old favorites returning are some of the ghosts that the original Ghostbusters thought they had zapped and trapped - the legendary, hotdog-munching Slimer is back as is the Library Ghost alongside a terrifying army of new ghosts, including a horned monster called Garraka and the stomach-churning Pukey.