CrossBinge
Explore CrossBinge →
Ghostbusters adaptations: films & series
Every version of Ghostbusters — the films & series, compared across media.
Three parapsychologists lose their university jobs and open a ghost-catching business in New York City, facing a supernatural threat that could destroy the world. That premise has since expanded across sequels and animation: later films pass the legacy to a new generation of Spenglers, while an animated series keeps the original team — Venkman, Spengler, Stantz, Zeddemore, Janine, and Slimer — chasing ghosts long after the 1984 credits rolled.
Ghostbusters films
Film
Ghostbusters
Three unemployed parapsychologists launch a ghost-catching business in New York and face a world-ending supernatural threat.
Film
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
The Spengler family returns to the New York firehouse and joins the original Ghostbusters, who now run a top-secret research lab.
Film
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
A single mother and her two kids arrive in a small Oklahoma town and uncover their family's secret ties to the original Ghostbusters.
Ghostbusters series
Frequently asked
Is Ghostbusters based on a book?
No book adaptation appears among the known versions. The Ghostbusters story exists across the 1984 film Ghostbusters, sequels Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024), and the animated series The Real Ghostbusters (1986).
How many Ghostbusters films and series are there?
There are three films — Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) — plus the animated television series The Real Ghostbusters (1986).
Which Ghostbusters version should I start with?
Start with the 1984 film Ghostbusters, which introduces the parapsychologist team and the New York ghost-busting premise that all later versions build on.