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Fans of Ghostbusters have multiple reasons to celebrate this weekend.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the Jason Reitman-directed sequel to both Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989), is hitting theaters on Friday. In celebration, the lower Manhattan location of the Alamo Drafthouse was just renamed Ivan Reitman Cinema, an homage to Jason's father, who directed the first two movies and is a producer on the 2021 release.
"Director Ivan Reitman has entertained and influenced generations of film lovers with seminal films like Stripes, Meatballs and Dave," reads a new plaque at the theater in downtown Manhattan. "In Ghostbusters, he made hilariously wild concepts feel grounded and cemented his entire cast—including a 112-foot-tall marshmallow man—into New York icons. Because of his incalculable influence on cinema, as of Monday, November 15, 2021, this Alamo Drafthouse Cinema shall hereby and forevermore be known as the Ivan Reitman Cinema."
Speaking of that infamous marshmallow man: Visitors will actually get to hang out with a replica of the mascot at the cinema. In fact, a 12-foot-tall statue of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man was unveiled during the renaming ceremony earlier this week. Ivan and Jason Reitman were also in attendance.
"As a wide eyed five-year-old breathlessly watching my first film in a packed theater of kids, I could only dream that this might be the magical path that my life would follow," the older Reitman said during the ceremony. "Thank you Alamo Drafthouse for naming this theater after me and, more importantly, thank you for clearly demonstrating belief in the future of this art form by building a great movie palace just blocks from the firehouse that the Ghostbusters occupy!"
The Ghostbusters-related celebrations at the Alamo will continue through the next few days. Starting Friday, all those catching a screening of the new movie will also receive a free letterpress postcard featuring original promo art work from The Press Room, the museum-slash-print-shop-slash-event-space on premise.
Patrons will also be handed a Ghostbusters-themed drink menu that features drinks the likes of the Ecto-Cooler juice and Ectoplasmic Residue cocktail.
Anyone else find themselves quietly singing the following tune while reading this?
