'Ghostbusters' End Credits: Setting Up a Potential Sequel and More to Watch For
Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, and Leslie Jones in ‘Ghostbusters’ (Columbia Pictures)
After this weekend, Sony ain’t afraid of no ghosts or Ghostbusters, for that matter. The unexpectedly controversial reboot of Ivan Reitman’s 1984 favorite earned a not-at-all horrifying $46 million for its debut weekend, as well as a B+ Cinemascore from general audiences. That gave Sony’s distribution president, Rory Bruer, incentive to promise that new Ghostbusters Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones will be suiting up again in the near future. Speaking to The Wrap, Bruer remarked: “The Ghostbusters world is alive and well. I expect Ghostbusters to become an important brand and franchise. While nothing has been officially announced yet, there’s no doubt in my mind it will happen.”
Related: ‘Ghostbusters’: All the Callbacks, Cameos, and Easter Eggs You Might Have Missed
Of course, if you stayed through the end credits, you already know that director Paul Feig is fairly confident in his sequel prospects. A short scene before the final cut-to-black all but promises who the villain will be when the quartet is called back into action, and it’s a four-letter name that will be instantly familiar to Ghostbusters fans. No, not Vigo. Allow Jones’s savvy ’buster, Patty Tolan, to give you the 411: While listening in on the EVP-enabled headphones that Abby (McCarthy) and Holtzmann (McKinnon) used to play a joke on Erin (Wiig) at the beginning of the film, she hears something that sure doesn’t sound like a laughing matter. Turning to her comrades in slime, she asks, “What’s Zuul?” and is only greeted with blank stares in return.
As most viewers will know all too well, Zuul isn’t a “what,” but a “who.” Specifically, Zuul is an emissary of Gozer, the shape-shifter who transforms from a David Bowie-esque glam rocker into a super-sized version of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man that Dan Aykroyd’s Ray Stantz accidentally conjures into existence during the climax of the original Ghostsbusters. Gozer’s ultimate agenda was to usher in a ghost-pocalypse, a desire shared by the reboot’s main bad guy, Rowan (Neil Casey), but, thankfully, thwarted by the new team. We’ll have to wait and see whether this new Zuul is paving the way for Gozer or is more of a freelance operative. Either way, his presence doesn’t spell good things for the new Ghostbusters.
That scene is a fun tag to the end of a fun film, but it’s far from the only reason to stay through the closing credits. The entire credits reel is almost a mini-movie in and of itself, complete with bonus scenes, snazzy CGI graphics, and even an entire deleted sequence that doesn’t appear in the film proper.
Related: How the ‘Ghostbusters’ Team Landed All Those Cameos From the Original Cast Members
Next to the Zuul reveal, the most notable bonus scene in the Ghostbusters credit sequence has to be Sigourney Weaver’s cameo as Rebecca Gorin, Holtzmann’s mentor, who helped her build a “ghost containment unit” that will house all the spirits their proton packs vacuum up. The actress is one of the many stars of the ’84 film to re-appear here, and it may be the funniest cameo of the bunch. That’s largely because Weaver channels her pupil’s infectiously wacky spirit; in fact, the potent comic chemistry she shares with McKinnon during her brief appearance has us hoping this isn’t the last we see of the dynamic duo of Gorin & Holtzmann.
Another scene, meanwhile, reveals some of the new ghostbusting tech we might see in the sequel, including the “bear trap” that was teased way back in the first trailer. And in between these moments, images of the Ecto-1 and various ghosts accompany the credits on screen while Elle King’s “Good Girls,” blasts through the speakers. (King’s tune, by the way, seems to have replaced Fall Out Boy’s cover of Ray Parker Jr.’s original “Ghostbusters” anthem, which didn’t exactly have a lot of fans.)
But wait, there’s more! Midway through the credits scrawl, you’ll start seeing — but not hearing, as the original audio isn’t included — scenes from the big finale in Times Square, which serves as the climactic battleground for Rowan and the Ghostbusters. At this point, Rowan’s spirit is still inside the strapping body of himbo secretary, Kevin (Chris Hemsworth), and he’s frozen dozens of New York City citizens, including a pair of FBI agents played by Michael Kenneth Williams and Matt Walsh, in place. In the movie itself, they remain still as statues.
Related: Chris Hemsworth’s Funniest Pre-’Ghostbusters’ Moments
But in the footage glimpsed here, you can see Rowan-as-Kevin leading the public in a Michael Jackson-esque dance routine that, per the credits, is choreographed by none other than Stephen “tWitch” Boss of So You Think You Can Dance fame. Production designer Jefferson Sage told Yahoo Movies in a discussion of the Times Square production sequence that the dancing was indeed shot to be part of the main film, at a point when Rowan-as-Kevin decides he “wanted to have a little fun.”
Director Paul Feig spoke with Vulture about the sequence, telling the site it was done to the Bee Gees’ “You Should Be Dancing.” While he told Vulture he loves the sequence (“This was the biggest decision of my life, whether to keep this scene in the movie or not”), he took it out and made it over to use in the credits because “it was stopping the flow for the audience” and “it was hurting our story a little bit.” The good news for fans who really want to see Hemsworth get dancing: Feig promises “when the extended cut comes out on DVD, we restored the full scene into the body of the movie, with effects.”
For now, at least, the chance to get a first look at Hemsworth’s dance moves are just one more reason why you should stay put once the Ghostbusters credits start rolling.
‘Ghostbusters’: Meet Chris Hemsworth’s Kevin:
