Summary

• Recent Ghostbusters films set a low bar, leaving doubt about the success of the new animated series on Netflix.
• The Real Ghostbusters is a tough act to follow as one of the most successful cartoons of the '80s and '90s.
• However, animation offers endless storytelling possibilities and an incredible visual spectrum for the Ghostbusters franchise.

Netflix's animated Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, receiving dismal reviews across the board. Ghost Corps, the production house behind 2021's Ghostbusters: Afterlife, is teaming up with Netflix to release an animated series. Jason Reitman, director of Afterlife and son of the original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman, will produce the series along with writer Gil Kenan.

Even though the Ghostbusters universe has proven to be a great world to set an animated series in, the volatility of the franchise's recent releases cast doubts on whether a new series will be successful. The 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters that starred women in its lead roles was met with anger and turmoil from the fandom. Ghostbusters: Afterlife was seen as mediocre by critics and well-liked by the audience, and even though Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire had an open ending, it was still seen as a failure in all areas and is doubtful to continue the story.

Netflix's Ghostbusters Animated Show Will Struggle To Beat The Real Ghostbusters

The Real Ghostbusters Was One Of The Most Successful Cartoons Of The '80s And Early '90s

One of the biggest challenges a new Ghostbusters animated series will face is its ability to outshine The Real Ghostbusters, which is seen as one of the best and most successful cartoons of the '80s and '90s era of Saturday morning cartoons. The seven-season show was geared more towards kids but explored the film's characters deeply, took place after the movie's events, and introduced a number of silly and scary ghosts to the franchise. Fan-favorite ghosts from the film also made appearances in the show, like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and Slimer, who became a regular character.

The Real Ghostbusters kicked off an avalanche of merchandise, including video games, apparel, and action figures that are still being remade and produced today. At its peak, the series was the face of the Ghostbusters franchise, and it's hard to believe a new series could ever reach that height again. Five years after the end of the series, a sequel, Extreme Ghostbusters was created in 1997 with hopes of continuing the original show's success. Unfortunately, all the original characters (aside from Egon) had disbanded, and the show was aimed at older kids. Extreme Ghostbusters was canceled after one season.

Why Animation Is Still Better For Ghostbusters' Future Right Now

Animation Can Keep Costs Down And Story Possibilities Are Endless

Regardless of whether Netflix's new show outperforms The Real Ghostbusters, animation still seems like the way to go with the franchise. Like most fantastical ideas, the story angles and visuals are essentially endless in animation. Budgets of $100 million (the cost of Frozen Empire) aren't needed to create the unbelievable, and the world of animation opens up possibilities of using content from many different medias, including crossovers from comics that had the Ghostbusters meeting the Transformers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. There are also a variety of great Ghostbusters video games to draw inspiration from.

More than 25 Ghostbusters video games have been released throughout the decades, with the most recent being Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord, which was released in 2023.

Netflix has hit a few home runs when continuing movie franchises in animated form. Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight, and Fast & Furious Spy Racers have all found multi-season success and critical acclaim. It's also possible to mix nostalgia with quality, as Disney+'s X-Men '97 has shown with its continuance of a 25-year-old series. If the new Ghostbusters show can lend itself more towards character development and good storytelling and be less of a continuance of mediocre films, it may just be able to catch the same lightning in a bottle as The Real Ghostbusters.