New ‘Ghostbusters’ features a cast of kids

Above : “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” opens on Friday. (Photo/Columbia Pictures)

The original “Ghostbusters” opened on June 8, 1984. That it became a hit is, in hindsight, no real surprise – even if the producers were worried.

Directed by Ivan Reitman, written by Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd, and starring Ramis, Aykroyd and – especially – Bill Murray, the comedy focuses on a trio (later, with the inclusion of Ernie Hudson, a quartet) of guys running a “paranormal investigation of elimination” service.

They end up, as we all know, saving New York City from no less than a giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man . The worries involved the production budget, which ballooned to $30 million largely because of all the then-new special effects.

That first film, though, ended up earning nearly $300 million world-wide, a sum that ensured a sequel with the same director and cast. Debuting five years later, “Ghostbusters II” was a bit of a disappointment, earning just over $215 million.

A 2016 film, also titled “Ghostbusters,” this one directed by Paul Feig and starring a mostly female cast – Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones – follows a reimagined version of the 1984 original. But poor reviews (its audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is 49 percent) kept its overall earnings to just over $229 million.

And now we have “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” which opens Friday. Directed by Reitman’s son, Jason Reitman, and based on a screenplay by Reitman and Gil Kenan, it takes the film franchise in a new direction – one involving kids.

Carrie Coon stars as a single mother of two (played by Mckenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard) who moves her family to a farmhouse in rural Oklahoma once owned by the children’s late grandfather. Paul Rudd co-stars as a local teacher who becomes involved when, of course, ghosts start appearing.

It’s receiving mostly good reviews from critics (73 percent as of this writing on Rotten Tomatoes ). Here is a sampling:

Sheri Linden , The Hollywood Reporter: “ ‘Afterlife’s’ engaging cast has the comic beats down, and they also play more fully fleshed people than the first film offered, reflecting the director’s interest in character-driven stories.”

Johnny Oleksinski , New York Post: “Well, it’s taken 36 years and six presidencies, but with ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ fans finally have an unembarrassing sequel to love.”

Alison Wilmore , New York Magazine: “An homage to and continuation of the 1984 ‘Ghostbusters’ that painstakingly mines that movie for props, lines, and characters while giving no indication of being aware of what it was like to actually watch.”

The final verdict, of course, is up to you … the public.

More films will be opening on Friday, both in mainstream theaters and the Magic Lantern. I’ll update as the week progresses.