Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire looks ready to rock the box office. It may face stiff competition from Denis Villeneuve’s latest sensation, Dune: Part Two, and two big upcoming releases this month: Kung Fu Panda 4 and Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire. Still, its jam-packed cast, comprising familiar faces of Bill Murray (Dr. Peter Vankman), Dan Aykroyd (Dr. Raymond Stantz), Ernie Hudson (Dr. Winston Zeddemore), and Annie Potts (Janine Melnitz), is enough to make the film a huge profit. However, the odds of the film’s overflowing supporting cast overshadowing the real protagonist, Phoebe Spengler, are hard to ignore.
The long-awaited return of Venkman, Zeddemore, Stantz, and Melnitz in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire may throw Phoebe in the backseat. She was the protagonist of Afterlife and should take charge in the upcoming sequel as well. Also, the forthcoming Ghostbusters chapter will feature the return of Carrie Coon’s Callie Spengler, Paul Rudd’s Gary Grooberson, and Finn Wolfhard’s Trevor Spengler. Moreover, Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt are in the film. With all these characters, Phoebe might receive less screen time than Afterlife.
Played by Mckenna Grace, Phoebe Spengler is Dr. Egon Spengler’s granddaughter. In Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), she was the only one who believed Egon. On top of that, she shares plenty of habits with her grandpa: his nerdiness, social awkwardness, resourcefulness, and immense fascination with supernatural or paranormal activities. While never truly meeting, she shares a strong connection through their family history and Egon’s legacy as a Ghostbuster. This connection is what inspires Phoebe to carry Egon’s baton.
Phoebe should be the one to lead all the remaining Ghostbusters (both old and new) in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. However, the film’s running time (109 minutes) teases that the sequel may fail to give proper justice to her character arc. The sequel will arrive in theatres worldwide on March 22, 2024. Stay tuned for more updates.