[Lowberg]

I saw this last night and was trying to break it down too. There's a thread about this pack in the Proton Pack section of the forum: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=46318

Couple things I noticed...
In addition to the Spengler grip, I noticed around the pack shell's Clippard valve there's some wire terminal ring connectors screwed all around it. Although we haven't seen that in a trailer....that looks like something that could possibly be on the afterlife pack (read between the lines there lol)

Also The main part of the cyclotron is missing on the shell (In the thread mentioned above there's a photo of what looks like a "inside reveal" of what the inside of the cyclotron might look like). This at first seemed like something Adam would do for fun and out of his imagination, but now seeing some of these other afterlife mods he may or may not have knowledge of, it makes me wonder if we'll get to see the inside of a proton pack in the movie

Photo from other thread:

[SpaceBallz]

At least the romans got bread and circuses before the empire completely shit the bed. Instead of Ghostbusters 3, we got Hubie Halloween.

[tylergfoster]

The Crossrip post says Afterlife cast and crew were sending cryptic Tweets over the weekend. There will always be the thought "maybe they're caving and going to streaming," but having looked at the Crossrip feed and seeing Annie Potts' Tweet linking to Finn Wolfhard's Instagram post, I'm guessing auctioning off the custom skateboard Kim was pictured with and other prizes for COVID relief charities.

[MikeyJ122]

I think the solution is simple, VOD but RAISE the price of the film. First two weeks it's out, have it cost $50. After two weeks lower it to $40, but keep it there for a month or so. Then lower it again to $25 or something like that.

I think this idea that the film industry needs theaters is untrue and out dated. Yes the studios need to make their money back, but it's time to adapt. Who here wouldn't pay $50 or even $60 to see Afterlife today? That's a fair price imo, considering you are probably going to watch it with a few other people. For that $50 price tag, let people watch the movie a second time within 24 hours.

I think it could work. These studios need to do something, are they just going to sit on movies for 2 years? They need to make money as well.

[Corey91]

Who here wouldn't pay $50 or even $60 to see Afterlife today?

Everyone who has been laid off since March and still hasn't been able to find a new job yet. Money, especially now, is a very touchy thing to a lot of people. $60 is a trip to grocery store for a scarce 2 weeks for me. As someone who has been waiting his whole life for this movie, it would kill me to have to wait to watch it due to financial reasons when a lot of other fans are watching it on VOD - not to mention all of the spoilers from thumbnails and article titles that will ruin it while you save up to watch the darn thing.

[Bison256]

50 or 60 dollars would WAY to much for me. While I'm still working my normal 40 hours a week, there is no way I can justify that much money when I can't even legally download the file. I plan on buying the dvd/Blu-ray combo pack when it comes out eventually, so if they were to go much higher than 30 for vod I'll just wait it out!

[tylergfoster]

In other words, the fact that Regal has just thrown in the towel for the time being will allow AMC to do the same. It will be terrible for the employees, but the company as a whole will probably gain time back not having to pay any workers.

LOL or they could...not do that...

https://nypost.com/2020/10/06/amc-and-c ... main-open/

[Kingpin]

Who here wouldn't pay $50 or even $60 to see Afterlife today?

I wouldn't.

I want to see this movie as much as anyone else, I've been a die-hard Ghostbusters fan for most of my life, but I'd balk at paying $50 or $60 to even have a copy to keep. A brand-new DVD in the UK costs around $20, to keep forever and to have some special features with it. $50 is closer to the price-tag for a new bluray, and one of the reasons I haven't shifted to bluray are blurays tend to be bloody expensive... I bit the bullet for Cleaning Up the Town and the 35th anniversary sets because the former won't ever be released on DVD, and the latter is the only way to get those juicy new special features.

$50-60 in a pandemic for a video stream that you probably don't get to keep? Get outta here.

Even working part-time, and I'm fortunate to be working part-time right now, the value for money feels poor despite my want to see the movie.

[Davideverona]

I'd pay 60 euros to see it if they send Bill Murray to watch it with my family at my house and then he'd tell me how the past GB3 scripts were.

[groschopf]

I saw this last night and was trying to break it down too. There's a thread about this pack in the Proton Pack section of the forum: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=46318

Here's that photo brightened up so we can get a better look.



Maybe Savage made a prototype for the production to use as reference?

Or... we do see a pack in a state of disassembly in the trailer. Is this that prop with the cyclotron shield removed?

Or, of course, it could just be something Savage put together for funsies.

[groschopf]

Here's another look at that pack. I don't know. It's hard to tell if this thing has anything to do with Afterlife.



The more I look at it, the more it reminds me of when a friend built a "prototype" proton pack for an art show ten years ago:

[metallijosh]

Adam Savage Afterlife Proton Pack

To me the thing on the strap looks like it could be a camera. Imagine if Egon was to make his own version of the GoPro.

I was thinking about the tape on the grip, and I know that Adam likes to customize and weather his replicas. I wonder if this pack was built before the movie and Jason or someone from Afterlife saw it and added it to the Afterlife pack because they liked it...

[Gozerhead]

I live outside the major metro. We have a small theater in the mall where the selling point is reclining seats. No 4k, immersive audio, food, etc. The other theater by the college is super old school. When Answer the Call came out, the screen even had wrinkles. My point, is they are very generic movie theaters.

Tickets for an evening show with any sort of food, or bringing any of my kids is pushing $25-60 bucks. I saw Answer the Call at least 5 times in the theater. Plus, I will pre-order the UHD, which will run $25-30. I am easily in for $50 to $100 while Afterlife is in theaters...easily. I will for sure see it by myself opening night, go again with my kids the next day, and probably go one or two more times while it is in theaters (IF IT IS SAFE).

So, if Afterlife is VOD, I will gladly pay $50-60 and end up saving money. Truth be told, I do have a projector and Atmos in my basement. It is way better than the theater. Upstairs, I have a nice, but not expensive, TCL tv and soundbar. That works well with headphones, but wouldn't be as ideal as a theater for sound. I have an iPhone 11 and that is OLED with immersive headphone audio (Air Pod Pros). I've watched a couple of movies since iOS 14 has come out and I find the audio to be great for what it is. It isn't a huge thing for GB1 and GB2 as I grew up watching those on VHS on a tiny TV.

I desperately want Afterlife to have a normal theatrical run for the celebration aspect, but that seems so impossible at this point. I love the idea of wearing my flight suit and gear and the movie being promoted. ATC was a blast in terms of the pre-theater experience (the movie not being great, besides), but it was more about the vibe than the actually movie watching experience. I saw Jurassic World Dominion and Avengers Endgame in fancy 4k theaters, and nothing about it left me feeling like it was the only way to enjoy a movie.

[JonXCTrack]

Netflix reportedly paid $50 million for the Cloverfield Paradox. I'm wondering if they'd shell out $100 million for Ghostbusters: Afterlife. If they did that, maybe they save on the marketing budget, and the film earns a modest profit for Sony? But would that mean that Afterlife becomes Netflix's IP? Would Sony be able to make sequels or cartoons based upon Afterlife?

It just feels like someone needs to get creative here. If and when theaters reopen there will be a log jam of films and I fear Afterlife would just get lost in the shuffle.

[deadderek]

It's not going to be sold to Netflix, no amount of "omg I would pay $50 to see it!" will push them into releasing it on demand, and selling streaming rights/airing rights doesn't mean a studio gives up their I.P.

Come on people.

[Bison256]

It's not going to be sold to Netflix, no amount of "omg I would pay $50 to see it!" will push them into releasing it on demand, and selling streaming rights/airing rights doesn't mean a studio gives up their I.P.

Come on people.

It seems too many people here have never heard of broadcast rights.

[Wafflerobot]

I'd imagine it would be done the same way as Bill and Ted 3, which you could rent on any place that offers digital rentals like Amazon and YouTube.

[tylergfoster]

I went over some of this before, but the possible scenarios are this:

1) What Wafflerobot says, which is that Sony themselves sets a premium VOD rental price and sells it "directly." You'd be able to rent it on all major platforms, and Sony would make a higher percentage of the money that comes in, because streaming takes a much smaller split. They save on prints, and advertising is probably cheaper, but the film has a MUCH longer road to being "profitable" given how low grosses are on even a VOD hit. They will have home video profits later when a physical release comes out and you can buy it on digital services as well.

I forsee this scenario only coming true if enough time passes. If, in some hellish twist of fate, we're still in this July 2021 and things aren't looking any more promising, then Sony will have to start doing something with their languishing movies, although I would definitely think there are others (Peter Rabbit 2) that would be sacrificed first.

2) What JonXTrack says. Paramount cut a deal that allowed them to sell the streaming rights to Netflix in their entirety, while retaining the Cloverfield IP and physical media rights.

For context, Paramount is a struggling studio; A Quiet Place and Sonic the Hedgehog were lifelines for a company that saw Transformers collapse and two Terminator movies bomb. The Mission: Impossible movies are their one ace in the hole, which is almost certainly why they decided to make two in one go.

I don't think Sony is pessimistic enough about the film's prospects (like Paramount was with Cloverfield Paradox) to go for this deal, but it's dependent on how much a streamer offers, with these conditions in place. It's possible that no streamer would take those conditions anymore. I would have to guess that a $120-$150m offer would have to be made, which would cover production, with the stipulation that Sony wouldn't have to pay for marketing, and then they'd hope to go in the black with merch and home video, which would allow Sony to test audience interest in more Ghostbusters without actually having to take much risk. Another complication is that, if we're looking at Paramount's deal, the digital exclusivity is all-encompassing. You cannot buy or rent the movie on ANY digital services, which sounds like something I can't imagine Sony going for.

Still, I would call this the most likely of the unlikely streaming options.

3) Sony outright sells the movie, and the IP, to another studio for streaming. (Despite the scoffing at this above, this has been most of the big sales during the pandemic -- Greyhound, for example, went completely to Apple.)

Never gonna happen. On merch alone, they'll keep Ghostbusters unless the studio itself is closing.

[Sav C]

I don't foresee Afterlife going to VOD, although given the way things are going, it might go VOD in the States but get a theatrical release in foreign markets. I dunno. I definitely dunno.

[timeware]

Remember when I said they could do both? A lot of people didn't like that idea but it looks like it might actually happen. Either way we'll see the movie. Hang in there.

Maybe we'll still get to see the film in the dollar theater's half a year from now. this year sucks the donkey dingles.

[SpaceBallz]

I'm not sure where a few of think you can only "rent" it on VOD for 30-50 bucks, I actually bought the VOD of Bill & Ted 3 for like $25. If it's that much then it's a purchase and you can watch it however many times you want for the rest of your life (if the world doesn't end). I think Mulan was the only movie that was a rental and you had to already been buying the Disney+ service on top of it.

[tylergfoster]

I'm not sure where a few of think you can only "rent" it on VOD for 30-50 bucks, I actually bought the VOD of Bill & Ted 3 for like $25. If it's that much then it's a purchase and you can watch it however many times you want for the rest of your life (if the world doesn't end). I think Mulan was the only movie that was a rental and you had to already been buying the Disney+ service on top of it.

Bill & Ted 3 was actually the exception. Trolls 2: World Tour, The Invisible Man, The Hunt, and several other films followed the model being described, which was a certain period in which the film could be rented for $19.99 with no purchase options (the "theatrical" window), and then later a period when rentals dropped to the standard $3.99 for HD and you could own for $19.99 (generally accompanied by the film's release on physical media). I would estimate that 85% of the movies otherwise destined for theatrical that have been released to VOD during the pandemic have followed this model.

[Davideverona]

I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll see it in a theatre. Maybe not in March but surely in 2021.

Here in Italy the daily contagion ratio is back to April numbers BUT we have really few people hospitalised compared to the first wave, fewer people in Intensive Care and thanks to God even less deaths.

All this and the OMS declaring the possibility of a vaccine ready by the end of the year makes me think that maybe in a year will be in a much more better situation.

[Bison256]

I don't foresee Afterlife going to VOD, although given the way things are going, it might go VOD in the States but get a theatrical release in foreign markets. I dunno. I definitely dunno.

No piracy would be horrible since the movie would be on illegal streaming services with in hours.

[groschopf]

Theatrical release... streaming... the studios better figure something out, because the world they're holding movies back for may not return.

There's no point in waiting to release Afterlife in cinemas if cinemas are closed and (more importantly) consumer habits change from a prolonged, traumatic and collective experience.

Ms Jenkins said widespread closures would lead Hollywood studios to stop investing in films for cinemas, and turn to online streaming instead.

"It could be the kind of thing that happened to the music industry," she added. "Where you could crumble the entire industry by making it something that can't be profitable."

source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54446889

[Corey91]

I feel like Adam Savage is just messing with us now lmao

https://imgur.com/hbWM0v5

[groschopf]

Hopefully we'll see more of this kind of news so theaters are still around next year:

Gov. Tony Evers announced more than $100 million in grants “aimed at providing additional economic stabilization for small businesses and communities hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.” Of that $100 million, live music and performance venues throughout Wisconsin are set to receive $15 million. Privately owned movie theaters are set to receive $10 million. Non-profit cultural venues are set to receive $10 million.

source: https://milwaukeerecord.com/music/gov-e ... ters-more/

[devilmanozzy]

Jurassic World: Dominion delayed from June 11, 2021 to June 10, 2022
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/jura ... 234794880/

Universal Pictures doesn't see the summer of 2021 as possible. That is your first hint of where "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" is going. Universal Pictures was releasing films during the pandemic on VOD, last barely theatrical release "Trolls World Tour" was in April, and the two film released after with low budgets on VOD.

They been pushing back films since. Tent pole films can wait the Pandemic.

IWho here wouldn't pay $50 or even $60 to see Afterlife today? That's a fair price imo, considering you are probably going to watch it with a few other people. For that $50 price tag, let people watch the movie a second time within 24 hours.

We are not enough for a film release. Also most won't. Ghostbusters needs mainstream numbers, and the Ghostbusters Community is a small group. They need casual fans too, and they ain't going to spend $50-$60 on it. You are dreaming.

Expect another delay by Christmas 2020. Likely moving the film to Fall 2021 or Spring 20222. VOD...not happening.

[Kingpin]

Jurassic World: Dominion delayed from June 11, 2021 to June 10, 2022
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/jura ... 234794880/

Yikes.

[Davideverona]

There is also the fact that they just started shooting the movie. Universal must've taken into account a slow down of the shooting if someone cast or crew members have to isolate themselves if they get Covid.