Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

If there’s one thing that’s always true, a franchise is never dead. It can fail at the box office. There can be a kick-ass game. It can be rebooted. It can lay dormant. So long as there’s a will and a way, a franchise will always live on. Whether some of us like it or not. For some out there, it’s time to come to terms that Ghostbusters is going to keep going even if you feel the film franchise ended 35 years ago. And for those folks, this latest entry isn’t going to pull them back into the fold. 

After 2016’s Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (which I actually kinda liked), the franchise saw a soft reboot back to its legacy roots with 2021’s fun but perhaps overly nostalgic Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Now, three years later we see the Spengler clan continue their pursuit of spectral entities with Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Without much time to reintroduce this family unit, we see Phoebe (McKenna Grace) her brother Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), their mother Callie (Carrie Coon), and former summer school teacher Gary (Paul Rudd) back in action in New York busting a giant dragon ghost. When they’re not causing massive amounts of city-wide destruction, they’re pissing off NYC Mayor Peck (William Atherton). While the new generation of Ghostbusters is tearing up the streets, Winston (Ernie Hudson) is creating new tools and toys for busting ghosts and Ray (Dan Aykroyd) acquires a mysterious ancient relic containing a terrifyingly deadly spirit!

Ghostbusters in general is something of an odd franchise. Ever since the first film, it’s struggled in more ways than one to figure out what it wants to be. From one film to the next, from one cartoon series to the next, from one game to the next, Ghostbusters hasn’t really defined its world. Is it a Horror/Comedy about a team of paranormal exterminators or is it a Comedy with Horror elements about a team of paranormal exterminators? Is it for adults? Is it kids only? Or is it trying to be for all ages in the family? But ultimately the most important question is: where the hell does it want to go?

In the 35 years since Ghostbusters II, the answer to that latter question has remained elusive. After the tepid reboot Ghostbusters Answer The Call, I gave Ghostbusters: Afterlife a lot of leeway. It was dripping in nostalgia bait but like The Force Awakens, I felt it needed those nods and winks to reintroduce fans to the franchise we knew and loved. Nods and winks are fine as long as there was good reason, and I felt like the film’s emotionally satisfying finale proved itself worthy. For Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire franchise heir Jason Reitman passed directing duties off to his Afterlife co-writer Gil Kenan. 

The film has plenty of energy, and some very fun action/scare sequences, but in many ways it’s also the most directionless of the main franchise. In an effort to reintroduce the classic New York setting, it also tries to expand the world. At times, it feels like the film is going all in for a slime-filled The Real Ghostbusters cartoon vibe - which is great! That’s where it should go. But it also slips into the pitfall of franchise expansion by introducing so many new characters with returning characters we just don’t care about. 

There are so many Ghostbusters of all ages now, on top of helpers like Patton Oswalt’s Dr. Wartzki or Kumail Nanjiani’s Nadeem they could have slipped in the ladies from the 2016 film and I doubt anyone would have noticed. If that’s not too much then it tries to create a friendly “human” ghost played by Emily Alyn Lynd for McKenna Grace to befriend as a social outcast. By the time our evil phantom god Garraka is unleashed, there’s not a lot of time for him to make much of a terrifying impact. 

While it sounds like I’m coming down hard on the film, and I kinda am, I do admit I genuinely enjoyed Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. I caught this in IMAX and had a fun time and I still think it’s a fun flick. I enjoyed the attempts at world-building moving into some Real Ghostbusters territory. I thought it was badass that my favorite Ghostbuster Winston is the money man behind the machine. I appreciated that our old guard Busters actually had something to do with the plot beyond popping up at the end for a brief cameo.

My ultimate critique of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a case of trying to do too much and mucking up the time management stuffing everything in. A tighter edit, a cleaner script with less forced exposition, and I think this film could have turned out a lot better. I don’t think the Ghostbusters franchise is dead. There’s plenty of life left for another adventure, but rather than checking boxes, this franchise needs to figure out what it wants to be. Not the worst Ghostbusters movie, but still a step back from the last one. 

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire terrifies Physical Media collectors with a two-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital release from Sony. The 4K is pressed on a BD-100 disc with a Region Free BD-50 disc for the 1080p and the bulk of the bonus features. Both discs are housed in a sturdy black case with identical slipcover art. The discs load to static image main menus with the bonus features along the right side of the screen. 

Sony once again delivers a first-rate Dolby Vision Transfer. From the opening ghost chase through New York onward, the film offers up crystal clear details, even throughout some of the heaviest VFX sequences. A couple of odd CGI effects shots could look a little soft, it’s pretty obvious when a greenscreen background is employed, but most of the time they’re very well-detailed and clean. I especially liked that a number of practical effects were employed. The Ghostbusters uniforms, the details of the new research facility, and some of the new baddie ghosts all look great. Nothing quite like seeing Slimer sleeping under a massive pile of candy wrappers and it turns out to be an actual physical puppet (albeit composited into the scene)! 

The Dolby Vision grade offers a nice punch for the visuals giving extra highlights to the otherworldly ghostly colors, the proton packs, and spectral highlights. Colors are lovely and vivid without oversaturating skin tones. Black levels are deep and inky with some very good shadow separations and lighting gradients. The last of the film really brings that to life moving from the average daylight sequences to the titular “frozen empire” with more overcast blues and gray tones. Whites are bright and brilliant without blowouts.

True to form, Sony also gives this disc a damn-near demo-worthy Atmos mix. Part of the fun of seeing this film in Imax was the big expansive audio experience, and this track lives up to that. Right from the jump there’s a big, loud, and wide soundscape to enjoy. When you’ve got a dragon ghost whipping around the streets of the city with Ecto-1 in hot pursuit, those overheads get plenty of action. Thankfully the overhead-specific channel usage isn’t relegated to the bigger action sequences.

Even during the quietest scenes, there’s plenty of surround activity in the sides, rears, and overheads to keep your setup engaged and immersive. Channel movement was also a nice highlight. Obviously, the biggest action scenes are great in that arena, but once we finally get to see Garraka in action, the ice storms running up the beach and into the city is dynamite stuff. Throughout, dialog is never lost or difficult to hear. Levels are spot on without the need for compensation. LFE is also a lot of fun for this one, there are a lot of rumbles and tumbles throughout to give your floorboards a few rattles. All around a great mix. 

Also worth noting, the included 1080p Blu-ray is scaled back to a decent DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix. On its own merits it's very good, but it just can't keep pace with the 4K's Atmos mix. So that's another thing to consider if you're adding this flick to the collection

Bonus features for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire are actually pretty good. At roughly an hour plus commentary time, we get a few genuinely good behind-the-scenes featurettes. Not simply talking head pieces, we do get some dedicated time with various cast and crew to discuss the execution of various aspects of the film - particularly the very cool practical effects. They’re a little on the EPK side but they’re informative and worth the time. Co-writer and director Gil Kenan delivers a very lively solo-driven audio commentary track. He can get a little distracted with some finer details, but he does his best to keep pace with the action on screen and is obviously a fan of the franchise.

4K Disc

• Audio Commentary featuring Gil Kenan
• Previews

Blu-ray Disc 

• Audio Commentary featuring Gil Kenan
• Return to the Firehouse: Making Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (HD 21:40)
• Busted: Capturing the Ghosts of Frozen Empire (HD 11:28)
• Easter Eggs Unleashed (HD 6:34)
• Manifesting Garraka (HD 3:55)
• New Your, New Gear (HD 7:05)
• Welcome to the Paranormal Discovery Center (HD 4:44)
• Knowing the Score (HD 6:33)
• Deleted Scenes (HD 8:44 Total)
• Headlines
• I Am A Doctor
• Ghost-Chopper
• News Report
• Rooftop Consolation
• Slime Bath
• Previews

I didn’t love Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and my biggest disappointment with this film is that I really wanted to. At the very least I was entertained and enjoyed the ride. The previews gave it a Real Ghostbusters cartoon vibe, and it has some of that, but the film is also too clunky, too weirdly paced, while stuffed with too many new and returning characters while also trying to give the O.G. Busters something to do more than a glorified cameo. This isn’t the end of the franchise, but before another one hits theaters I hope some more time and effort is put into sharpening that script and giving us a new spectral villain that’s genuinely scary. A middling entry, but it’s still not the worst. On 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Sony continues doing the good work on disc with an excellent Dolby Vision transfer with a rumbling Atmos track to match. And the bonus features aren’t half bad with some great pieces in there worth checking out. If you’re a fan it’s an easy one to call Recommended 

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