Ghostbusters: Afterlife Sequel ("Firehouse") June 2023 New York City Filming Rundown

The new Ghostbusters movie, a sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife currently being produced under the working title Firehouse, recently completely principal photography... but not before spending a few weeks here in New York shooting footage of the Ecto-1 careening through the streets of New York City. Read on to find out more...

Principal photography started in the United Kingdom on March 20th, where director Gil Kenan directed the film's stars on a "firehouse headquarters" set, which seamlessly blends the appearance of the exterior of the real building in New York with the appearance of the interior of the currently-being-renovated building in Los Angeles. Very few photos have appeared online of the U.K. shooting, mainly because the bulk of it took place on a private soundstage, but star Mckenna Grace did upload a lip-syncing video to TikTok (on June 8th) which gave fans a glimpse of the garage bay and exterior of the re-creation set.


While the first unit was filming in the U.K., the second unit crew was over here in the United States filming the Ecto-1 driving through the streets for a ghost chase scene that will open the film. However, none of the main stars were involved in the United States filming. Instead, the main four actors - Mckenna Grace (Phoebe), Finn Wolfhard (Trevor), Carrie Coon (Callie), and Paul Rudd (Gary) - were replaced with stunt doubles. Mckenna's stunt double is Acei Martin (her name is pronounced Ayy-See or AC). Finn's stunt double is Matthew R. Staley. Carrie's stunt double is Ashley Pynn. Paul's stunt double is Jeremy Fry.


The credits for these pics are as follows:

• Faux Phoebe - Taken on June 15th at Hook & Ladder #8 by Justin Corino.

• Faux Trevor - Taken on June 12th on Lafayette/Canal Street by Renato Uriel Di Marcantonio.

• Faux Callie - Taken on June 8th on Church Street by unknown.

• Faux Gary - Taken on June 18th on Fifth Avenue by Jeremy FitzPatrick, who had this to say about it: "We got to meet the stunt driver and Paul Rudd stunt double for Firehouse. Got to chat a bit between scenes, super cool guy, his name is also Jeremy. We asked if we could take a picture with him, he said "I'm not allowed to 'take pictures', but if you guys wanna take a selfie, I can end up in the background and I might even be able to smile."




The first indication of U.S. filming was when the Ecto-1 was spotted on May 26th rehearsing a stunt in a parking lot of Metlife Stadium near the Giants' training facility in New Jersey. The stunt involved the car ramming into a group of bicycles.






The first appearance of the Ecto-1 on the streets was on June 3rd on Fifth Avenue and East 18th Streets. Astute fans quickly noticed that the red stripes on the sides now went from the tail fins all the way to the front of the hood, and that there was a new "clamshell" attachment on the roof.






While the previous day's filming wasn't too exciting, other than being our first look at the updated Ecto-1, the filming around City Hall would prove to be much more spectacular...and also show us the bicycle stunt that was being rehearsed on May 26th.


The bicycles being rammed into are sponsored by Manhattan City Bank, which was the fictional bank the guys got the loan from in the first movie.


The car was filmed on Chambers Street, between Broadway and Centre Street, which is right behind City Hall, and in front of the Tweed Courthouse that was the exterior of "City Hall" in the 2016 film. Also, the car was driving towards the Municipal Building, which was the City Hall Loading Dock in the first film.







The crew took a break from filming the Ecto-1 to grab some shots at Coney Island, on a portion of beach spanning from West 10th to West 12th Streets, from the boardwalk to the waterline. The scene involved special effects, as per a notice that was plastered on Mermaid Avenue between Stillwell Avenue and 15th Street. Yes, the production company is known as Blaze Films.


A sign was posted on the beach warning visitors that they may appear in the film if they proceed to enter the area.


Although it's a popular location, no photographs of the shoot have appeared online. However, that's not to say that the crew didn't leave a little something behind to prove they were there. Anyone care to visit Coney Island and see if that graffiti has been defaced yet?






The second unit crew was back to filming the Ecto-1 on Wednesday June 7th, when the car was spotted on Church Street. My fellow New Yorkers will remember this as the day the skies turned orange and the air smelled like smoke... Judgment Day. Actually, it was all due to wildfires that raged far north in Quebec, Canada. That didn't deter the crew from their filming. The below photo is just north of the intersection of Church Street and White Street. The Roxy Hotel at 2 Sixth Avenue, where Illfonic previewed Spirits Unleashed in 2022, is in the background.


As the Ecto-1 races down the road, two cars crash behind it.






On June 10th, filming took place at Eldridge and Broome Street with background extras running and pretending to be cold, with gusts of wind being produced by big fans and leaf blowers. I'm really surprised that the ice cream didn't fly out of that girl's cone. That would have been a great gag.


For reasons that I'm sure will make sense in the final film, a taxicab was propped up on a stand.






On these two days, Ecto-1 was around Lafayette and Canal Streets, with some use of Cleveland and Howard Streets. For the most part, it's more of the same, though if you didn't already know that this was for a ghost chase scene, this shot of Mckenna's double pretending to fire at something should clue you in.


The Remote Trap Vehicle (RTV) was seen, though I think we all knew it would be coming back.


While I'm on the subject of equipment, here's a nice close look at the Proton Pack on the back of the gunner seat.






No photos have popped up of the filming on this day. Based on the production notices that were plastered around the neighborhood, they filmed on 80th Street and 41st Avenue.


That's actually in Queens, not Manhattan, and at that intersection is the Community Medical Center of Elmhurst Hospital. This makes me think that they filmed a scene of someone being rushed to the hospital.


Based on another notice, they also filmed in Manhattan on East 64th Street, between 2nd Avenue and York.






Without a doubt, this was the most significant day of filming, as the crew came home to Hook & Ladder #8, which served as the exterior of Ghostbusters' headquarters in the original two films, as well as at the end of the 2016 film.


How glorious it is to see the Ecto-1 in front of the famed firehall.


Interestingly, the car wasn't filmed pulling out of the firehouse, but rather driving away from it. Perhaps they filmed the car exiting the firehouse on the set in the UK, and then it will be edited to match the footage taken today.






While the filming at the firehouse was the most significant, the filming here on Fifth Avenue, was the most popular. Well, it was the most documented, at least. The crew was here on June 3rd, and I guess they didn't get all of the coverage they needed. Filming took place in the shadow of the Empire State Building.


The big stunt for the two days was a hard turn...


...that was filmed from several different angles by several different individuals.


From another angle, you can see some scared extras on the right.


One fan got a nice photo of the gunner seat with the Proton Wand just sitting there, and the inside of the car


Another video of a different turn reveals some signs that the crew placed as set dressing on the corner building at 141 Fifth Avenue (circled in the video thumbnail below).


Let's take a closer look at those fictional signs. Most significantly, there's Ray's Occult Books.


A "Women of Rock" concert and an "ASH3" cosmetics(?) ad.


A poster for a September 16th "Beware The Beast" concert by Vice Apex, who appears to be a Blues musician.


That same poster appears across from the firehouse in the UK set.


Finally, if you'd like to know what it was like to be there watching the filming, this video should give you an idea.






Some additional photography took place at Hook & Ladder #8, but this time without the Ecto-1. I suspect that the shots taken today will be inserted behind the actors, who were probably filmed against green-screens over in the UK.


Meanwhile, on Fifth Avenue, a crew was set up on the steps of the New York Public Library. No photographs ever appeared of this filming; just an Instagram post by the Astoria Ghostbusters showing the same "you will be filmed if you enter the area" sign that previously appeared at Coney Island. A lion statue was spotted on the studio lot in the U.K. (at Winnersh), so perhaps they filmed some footage to tie in with that.





That's it for the New York filming, and filming in general after three months of principal photography. They may do reshoots later, but they have much more to do between now and the still "in play" December 2023 release date.

Huge THANKS to MrMichaelT from the Ghostbusters Wiki for all of his research in documenting the filming of the movie. The clapboard image that appears at the top of this article was taken by Jeff Shreck Jr. during filming on Fifth Avenue on June 18th.