Ghostbusters: Afterlife release date gets (slightly) delayed again

Release dates for major blockbusters continue to get pushed back in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Hot on the heels of Paramount's decision to push several of its biggest releases until 2022 comes another change. Ghostbusters: Afterlife is now arriving in theaters one week later.

This follows from Paramount choosing to shift Top Gun: Maverick to Memorial Day weekend of 2022, leaving its choice pre-Thanksgiving Day weekend spot wide open. The Ghostbusters sequel is now scheduled to open November 19, instead of its previous November 11 date.

Not only does this give Ghostbusters: Afterlife the coveted holiday weekend opening, it offers a decent buffer from another big hitter: Marvel's Eternals which is due to open on November 5. 

Alas, this isn't the first setback for Sony's spooky sequel. The film was originally slated for release on July 10, 2020, but experienced its first delay in March 2020 at the height of the pandemic, pushing it to March 5, 2021. It was then moved to June 2021 until Sony made the decision to kick it to November 2021 to offset the rising Delta variant concerns.

Based on early buzz, it sounds like it'll be worth the wait. Social reactions following the film's secret screening at CinemaCon were overwhelmingly positive, with critics in attendance suggesting it's a worthy follow-up to the first two movies. 

The sequel, directed by Jason Reitman who co-wrote the script with Gil Kenan, takes place thirty years after the events of Ghostbusters 2 and follows siblings Callie (McKenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) as they move into a new town with their mom (Carrie Coon), inheriting a creepy farmhouse that once belonged to their grandfather.

The pair make new friends Lucky (Celeste O'Conner) and Podcast (Logan Kim), and Trevor and Phoebe discover original Ghostbuster Egon Spengler (the late Harold Ramis) is their grandfather. Reprising their roles from the earlier movies are Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts will reprise their roles from the original movie.

As it stands now, Ghostbusters: Afterlife is set to arrive in theaters on November 19, 2021, but we'll keep you posted if it moves again. Until then, our rundown of the most anticipated upcoming movies ought to keep your cinematic schedule packed.