Plot
Physicists Abby Yates and Erin Gilbert are co-authors of a research book that argues for the existence of paranormal phenomena, including ghosts. Erin has since disowned the work and become a professor at Columbia University, while Abby continues to study the paranormal at a technical college with eccentric engineer Jillian Holtzmann. When Erin learns that Abby has republished the book, threatening her bid for tenure, she reunites with her former collaborator. In exchange for Abby pulling the book from publication, Erin agrees to help Abby and Jillian with a paranormal investigation.
The group witnesses a malevolent ghost, which restores Erin's belief in the paranormal. A video of the investigation is posted online, and Erin is fired by the university. She joins Abby and Jillian's project, but a new institute director learns its nature and dismisses them as well. The three open an office above a Chinese restaurant, call themselves the "Conductors of the Metaphysical Examination," and build equipment to study and capture ghosts. They hire the dim but handsome Kevin Beckman as a receptionist.
MTA worker Patty Tolan witnesses a ghost on a subway line and contacts the group. They document the apparition and successfully test Jillian's proton containment laser, but their findings are again dismissed. As they refine their technology and advertise their services, pundits dub them the "Ghostbusters." Patty joins the team, bringing historical knowledge of New York City and a repurposed hearse the team calls Ecto-1.
Unknown to the team, the ghosts are being summoned by devices built by Rowan North, an occultist trying to bring about an apocalypse. When Rowan plants a device at a live music venue, the Ghostbusters capture the resulting ghost in front of the audience. A supernatural debunker, Dr. Martin Heiss, challenges them, and the incensed Erin releases the captured ghost as proof; it throws Heiss out a window and escapes. The Ghostbusters are summoned by Mayor Bradley and his secretary Jennifer Lynch, who reveal that the city and the Department of Homeland Security already know about New York's ghost problem. The mayor's office privately supports the team while publicly denouncing them as frauds.
The Ghostbusters work out that Rowan is placing his devices along ley lines that intersect at the Mercado Hotel in Times Square, a site with a history of paranormal activity. They find Rowan in the hotel basement building a portal to the ghost dimension. To avoid capture, he electrocutes himself, and Jillian deactivates the portal. Erin then discovers a copy of her and Abby's book among Rowan's possessions and realizes he killed himself deliberately, intending to return as a ghost and command a spirit army. Rowan comes back as a powerful entity, possessing first Abby and then Kevin. As Kevin, he reopens the portal and unleashes hundreds of ghosts. The police and DHS are overwhelmed, but the Ghostbusters fight through to the portal.
Rowan takes the form of the ghost in the Ghostbusters' logo, grows enormous, and attacks the city. The team uses Ecto-1's nuclear reactor to close the portal and send the ghosts back to their own dimension. The plan works, but Rowan drags Abby into the portal; Erin leaps in and rescues her as Rowan is destroyed. The mayor's office agrees to secretly fund the team's research while continuing to deny them publicly. With the new funding, the Ghostbusters move into a disused firehouse, and New York lights up with tributes to them. In a final scene, Patty listens to a recording of a ghost encounter and asks the others whether they have ever heard of Zuul.
Continuity
The 2016 film stands on its own and does not share continuity with Ghostbusters (1984) or Ghostbusters II. Several original cast members, including Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd, appear in new roles rather than as their earlier characters. The later films Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) instead continue the original 1984 continuity, leaving the 2016 reboot as a separate branch of the franchise.
See also
