Ghostbusters: Afterlife Deleted / Alternate / Extended Scenes

The first assembly cut of Ghostbusters: Afterlife had a run time of 2 hours and 56 minutes, according to editor Dana Glauberman. As released, the movie ran for 2 hours and 4 minutes, with end credits. That means that there is almost an hour of footage that was removed. While the First Cut of the film has never been released, as it has for the original film, we do know what some of this deleted footage is. Let's take a look, with the obligatory SPOILER ALERT just in case you still have not seen the film already (and shame on you if you haven't by now), and an additional note that this article is VERY IMAGE INTENSIVE...

Before I get into this, I want to make it perfectly clear that THIS IS AN INCOMPLETE COLLECTION, AND IS NOT INTENDED TO BE COMPLETE. This is simply everything that I have as of this writing, and nothing more. Since Sony has not released the script for the film in any form, this collection is not in any specific order and all information is based on what could be surmised from various interviews that are out there. For a more complete list, though still incomplete, check out this Ghostbusters Wiki article.

All of the images from the Ghostbusters: The Official Cookbook were extracted from a digital copy by me, Paul Rudoff. Most are nice and large, coming from a high-res copy of the final book that was provided to me. A few are low-res because they were extracted from the "proof draft" version of the book (dated June 7, 2022), which was included in the book's press kit.


• Is It Ever Too Late? - Janine gives Callie a box containing her father's ashes, and finds the lucky coin she gave Egon (in the "Busy" deleted scene) in the farmhouse.

Although there is almost an hour's worth of deleted footage, this 78-second scene is all of the "deleted scenes" that Sony has released to the public so far; not counting snippets of footage seen in trailers and featurettes. The video below includes optional English subtitles.



• Eviction Notice Close-Up - In the first trailer, there is a close up of Callie Spengler's eviction notice.



• Legs Leaving Apartment - In the first trailer, there is a shot of the lower halves of Callie and Phoebe Spengler as they exit their Chicago apartment with their luggage.



• Alternate Water Tower Shots - In the first and second trailers are differing shots showing the front of the Summerville water tower, neither of which are used in the final film.




• I Wouldn't Say Nothing - When Janine visits Callie at the farmhouse, Callie asks, "So he left us nothing?" In the film, Janine replies, "Well, I wouldn't say that. There is quite a bit of debt." The second trailer provides an alternate response: "I wouldn't say nothing."



• Classmate Fires Doritos At Phoebe & Alternate Meeting Podcast - When Phoebe first arrives at school, her new classmates are anything but welcoming. As seen in the second trailer, one classmate explodes a bag of Doritos at her.



Shortly after that happens, Phoebe meets Podcast. This is different from the way it happens in the final film, as Phoebe has a Doritos chip in her hair, and Podcast is wearing headphones. The first image below comes from The Art and Making of the Movie book, and the other comes from page 13 of Ghostbusters: The Official Cookbook.




• Callie Meets Sheriff After Hardware Store - In the Summoning The Spirit featurette, at the 8:01 mark, there is a brief shot of Callie walking from Wertheimer's Hardware to her car and meeting Sheriff Domingo.



• Seismic Map Close-Up - In the first trailer, there is a close up shot of Gary's seismic map.



• It's The Only One That Had An Engine - In the second trailer, Trevor Spengler works on Ecto-1 in the barn. Phoebe, back home from summer school, stands at the doorway and asks him, "You went with the station wagon?" Trevor responds, "It's the only one that had an engine."



• Phoebe Walks Down Stairs With P.K.E. Meter - Phoebe walking through the house with the P.K.E. Meter included more shots, such as one of her walking down the stairs. The photo below comes from page 97 of Ghostbusters: The Official Cookbook.



• Alternate Trap Finding - An alternate shot of Phoebe finding the trap is seen on page 151 of Ghostbusters: The Official Cookbook.



• Wooden Ruler Versus Metal Box - Podcast attempted to pry the trap open with a wooden ruler. Upon seeing this, Phoebe remarks, "A wooden ruler versus a metal box. I wonder who will win." A behind-the-scenes clip is seen at the 2:59 mark in the Gearhead's Guide to Ghostbusters Gadgets featurette. An extension of the footage is seen in the October 7, 2021 B-Roll (at the 7:33 mark).



• A Ghostbusters Movie In The 1990s - After class, Gary Grooberson tells Podcast and Phoebe about the Ghostbusters before they go outside to open the trap. This is where he shows them footage on his laptop of the Ghostbusters arriving at the Shandor Building back in 1984. As seen in the October 7, 2021 B-Roll, at the 7:30 mark, he also tells them that a movie about the Ghostbusters was made in the 1990s. Podcast remarks, "I need to see this movie." (The clip of him saying that was used in a promo short for the digital release that was posted on Facebook on January 14, 2022.)



A photo of Podcast and Phoebe seated at Gary's laptop from this scene is seen on page 17 of the Ghostbusters: The Official Cookbook.



• Overhead Between Buses - In the first trailer, there is an overhead shot of Vinz Clortho, in vaporous Sentinel form, dashing between buses after being released from the trap.



• Phoebe Sitting At Pack - A deleted shot showing Phoebe from behind seated at the Proton Pack in Egon's secret lab can be seen on page 35 of the Ghostbusters: The Official Cookbook.



• Phoebe Leaves Lab, Traipses Through Field, and Makes Her Own Popcorn - After finding Egon's secret lab and repairing the Proton Pack, Phoebe left through the exit with the finished Proton Pack on. The Gearhead's Guide to Ghostbusters Gadgets featurette showed a clip of her leaving at the 2:21 mark.


She then traipsed through a field. The October 7, 2021 B-Roll, at the 9:44 mark, showed footage of Jason Reitman filming Phoebe as she walked by the perimeter of the fence.



Finally, she arrived in a field. A photo of her in said field can be seen on page 5 of the Ghostbusters: The Official Cookbook.


Here, she fires the Proton Pack, turning the corn into popcorn, which rains down on her. She smiles, screams in delight, catches some, and eats them like snowflakes on her tongue. Two photos can be seen on pages 10 and 24 of The Art and Making of The Movie book.




• Walking To The Foundry - Phoebe and Podcast brought all of the equipment to the foundry using a red wagon. A photo of Phoebe pulling the wagon loaded with ghostbusting gear along a gravel path is seen on page 110 in the Ghostbusters: Afterlife: The Art and Making of The Movie book.



• Podcast Exuberant After Muncher Flees Foundry - After Phoebe shoots at Muncher in the foundry and it flees, Podcast is excited, even though Muncher got away. A photo of Podcast standing in triumph can be seen on page 119 of Ghostbusters: The Official Cookbook.


Podcast yells, "Yes!" and turns to Phoebe, who leaves him hanging for a high five. She chides him, "I told you to trap him." He replies, "It's fine, we'll get him next time. Okay? Okay." Footage of this extended part of the scene can be seen in the October 7, 2021 B-Roll at the 2:15-2:18 and 2:39-2:50 marks.


Alternatively, Podcast tells Phoebe, "I had fun, we had fun." A clip of this dialog can be heard in a promo short for the home video releases that was posted on Facebook on March 5, 2022.



• Alternate Restaurant Date - There is an alternate scene of Gary and Callie's date where they are sitting at a different table in the Chinese restaurant. A photo from this alternate version of the scene appears on page 44 of Ghostbusters: The Official Cookbook. In the photo below, there is someone kneeling down next to the table in the lower left corner.



• I Love This Car - After the gunner seat is accidentally activated when they see Muncher chomping down on the fire hydrant, Podcast shouts, "I love this car!" A clip can be seen in the third international trailer at the 1:17 mark.



• Muncher Slimes Waitress - After Muncher flies through the Chinese restaurant, putting a damper on Callie and Gary's date, the shot originally ran a few seconds longer to show the ghost passing through a nearby waitress, leaving her coated in slime. The October 7, 2021 B-Roll, at the 7:00 mark, shows crew members applying slime to the actress playing the waitress in preparation for this scene.


Here's a rough composite of what the original shot would have looked like.



• Phoebe Soldering The P.K.E. Meter. - The second trailer included a shot of Phoebe soldering the P.K.E. Meter that doesn't appear in the film.



• Hey, Budd... - In International Trailer #3, Gary Grooberson says to the Terror Dog in Walmart, "Hey, budd--", then the dog's roar cuts him off. In the movie, he is interrupted right after "Hey". Embedded below is the clip from the trailer, followed by the clip from the movie.




• Lucky Sits Elsewhere - In an alternate version of the scene where the kids sit in a booth at Spinners to discuss the situation, Lucky sat by the window next to Podcast instead of Phoebe. A photo of Lucky from this alternate scene appears on page 65 of Ghostbusters: The Official Cookbook.



• Gary Meets Dog - Some time between Gary being possessed outside Walmart and breaking the Proton Cannon in the mine, he would have been seen wandering around. In what is, likely a nod to the horse and coach scene with possessed Louis in the original film, he is seen talking to a dog, probably asking it if it's the Gatekeeper. The two photos below were posted by hair stylist Karen Bartek to her official website, which also includes a photo of Paul Rudd sitting in the makeup trailer.




• Callie With P.K.E. Meter Outside - After Callie finds the P.K.E. Meter, she uses it to find Egon's secret lab. The final movie jumps from her finding the device to finding the shed, but her journey in between was photographed. A photo of Callie walking to the shed appears on page 53 in the proof draft of Ghostbusters: The Official Cookbook, but is not in the final version of the book.



• Mini Pufts Attack At Hardware Store - The montage of Summerville ghost attacks originally included a scene at Wertheimer's Hardware where the owner would have battled some Mini Pufts. The first trailer includes a shot of the store owner (played by Tracy Letts) walking down an aisle with a shovel that came from this scene.


It was confirmed by Eric Reich of Ghost Corps that a Mini-Puft would have fired a nail gun, which is seen using stand-ins in the October 7, 2021 B-Roll (at the 6:13 mark) and in the Spectral Effects featurette (as the 1:51 mark).


A photo of Jason Reitman conceptualizing how to shoot the Mini-Pufts, using little figures as stand-ins, appears in The Art and Making of the Movie book (on page 158), as well as on his Instagram page.



• Janine At Farmhouse During Final Battle - Janine was originally present at the final battle at the Farmhouse. Footage can be seen in the Summoning The Spirit featurette; at the 15:38 mark is Annie Potts in costume talking to Jason Reitman on the set, and at the 16:21 mark is Janine standing on the farmhouse porch watching the battle against Gozer. (In the online clip, the footage is at the 1:07 and 1:50 marks.)



• Podcast Covered in Marshmallow - More footage exists of Podcast covered in marshmallow residue in Ecto-1. One such shot appears on page 18 of Ghostbusters: The Official Cookbook.



• Podcast Watches Egon Dissipate - Podcast, still covered in marshmallow residue, stood in front of the Ghostbusters as Egon dissipated. Podcast turned and looked at them. Due to the way the scene is cut in the final film, you don't see him standing there, even though he is present. Footage showing him there was posted to Logan Kim's Instagram page, as well as appearing in the Summoning The Spirits featurete at the 16:49 mark.




• Peter and Dana's Home - During the end credits, a scene is shown of Dana using the shock machine on Peter in their home. This footage was taken from a much longer scene that, likely, would have appeared as part of the film's story. It is believed that at one point in the film, Janine went to Peter and Dana's home, and Winston's office, in order to recruit them to help in dealing with the matters in Summerville. When those scenes could not be worked into the film proper, they were repurposed for end credits use.

Part of the scene in Peter and Dana's home involved a close-up of a framed photo of the original Ghostbusters in front of the firehouse, which is actually a photo of the actors taken during filming in New York back in 1983. The unused shot of the framed photo appears in the second trailer, and was confirmed by Eric Reich of Ghost Corps to be a part of this scene.


Janine's visit to the lovely couple's home can be glimpsed in some behind-the-scenes footage that appears in the Summoning The Spirit featurette; at the 15:25 and 16:01 marks. (In the online clip, the footage is at the 0:55 and 1:30 marks.)



A photo of Janine from this scene (or an alternate version of it where she wears a different outfit and earrings) appears on page 59 in the proof draft of Ghostbusters: The Official Cookbook, but is not in the final version of the book.



• Winston In His Office - There are deleted shots of Winston in his office on pages 11 and 118 of Ghostbusters: The Official Cookbook. In the first photo, the box containing Egon's ashes sits on the table next to him.




That is all for now. Hopefully, when Sony releases the 40th Anniversary gift set in 2024, we'll get all of these deleted scenes and... maybe, just maybe... the 3-hour Assembly Cut. Meanwhile, if you don't already own a copy of Ghostbusters: Afterlife - if you're visiting Spook Central, I assume you already do - you can buy it on 4K UHD/Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack, and Individual DVD.