The VFX team for Ghostbusters: Afterlife revealed that a memorable sequence from the film was inspired by Gremlins.
VFX supervisor Pier Lefebvre reflected on his work in an interview with Variety. His team was responsible for animating the naughty Mini-Pufts marshmallows that overtake the town's Walmart. Lefebvre said, "In our dailies sessions with director Jason Reitman and production supervisor Alessandro Ongaro, our team was encouraged to bring their own ideas to the table. I think the choreography was the perfect combination of gruesome, evil, infantile, savage, unhinged and funny, all while bringing personality to each marshmallow. Our inspiration for the scene included the 1984 movie 'Gremlins,' released the same year as the original 'Ghostbusters.'"
The result is a sequence that pays homage to the troublesome creatures of Gremlins while bringing the mischievous marshmallows to life with hilariously realistic movements. VFX supervisor Rebastien Raets said, "Some of the highlights of the show were watching our animators re-enacting a toddler’s movement, climbing up to our studio’s rooftop in Montreal to light marshmallows and of course seeing Bill Murray’s reaction when Ivan Reitman showed him the scene." The team said it aimed to give the marshmallows distinct personalities and envision them as actors on set.
Jason Reitman's 2021 Ghostbusters: Afterlife is chock full of references, Easter eggs, cameos and homages. Apart from the nod to Gremlins, Afterlife is in constant conversation with its predecessors. Egon Spengler's truck bears the name and birth year of director Jason Reitman's father, Ivan, who directed the first two Ghostbusters movies. There is a scene featuring old news footage, cut from the 1984 film, where viewers can catch a glimpse of a young Jason Reitman. Moreover, Ivo Shandor, architect and Gozer-cult leader from the original film, is revealed to be the architect of Summerville and even makes an appearance, played by J.K. Simmons.
Ghostbusters II is present throughout Afterlife as well. Reitman shared, "We meet Ray working at Ray’s Occult. The toaster from Ghostbusters II is in the kitchen in the farmhouse. There’s actually lots of lost of Ghostbusters II details but nobody knows Ghostbusters II outside of Vigo the Carpathian and the Ghostbusters II logo. So there’s this assumption that it is not canon but it is definitely canon."
Following Afterlife's box office success, it was announced that Sony Pictures Entertainment signed Reitman and his Afterlife writing partner Gil Kenan to an overall producing deal with the studio, so fans can expect many more Reitman/Kenan collaborations on the big screen. For those curious about the 1984 classic that served as inspiration for the Mini-Pufts marshmallows sequence, Gremlins is available to stream on Netflix.
Source: Variety