Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire ending explained: What happened to the frozen New York City?

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the fifth instalment from the franchise, was released on March 22, 2024.

Positioned as a sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the 2021 movie, Frozen Empire has Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Celeste O'Connor, Annie Potts, Ernie Hudson, William Atherton, Patton Oswalt, Kumail Nanjiani and more making up an eclectic cast.

Distributed by Sony Pictures, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire unleashes a new villain along with some of the old ones and some old and new ghosts. The movie is dedicated to Ivan Reitman, the founder of the Ghostbusters franchise. His son Jason Reitman is one of the writers of the movie, along with director Gil Kenan.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the fantasy-comedy-action movie had old and new ghostbusters coming together to fight the main ghost villain, Garraka, using science, supernatural and psychic powers.

While their ghost ally, Melody, leaves the spooky world for the afterlife, other ghosts are left loose in New York City after the final action. Although New York City thaws after Garraka's capture, the Ghostbusters go back to their usual task of tracking and capturing the remaining ghosts.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers. Reader's discretion is advisable.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire: Garraka arrives to free all the contained ghosts

Garraka poses a powerful ghost disabling the Ghostbusters (Image via Sony)

While the Ghostbusters were ready to counter Garraka after the mega villain froze New York City, he went past their proton barriers and freed the ghosts in the containment unit. The powerful ghost had been in communication with the other ghosts long before he was released from his orb.

Garraka had figured out how to freeze the busters' proton packs, easily rendering them useless. He was an ancient ghost, one of the most powerful in the franchise so far, and his master plan for the world was death by fear.

Capturing Garraka defrosted the iced world in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Garraka was defeated by a joint effort. (Image via Sony)

Phoebe added a brass alloy to the configuration of her proton pack to withstand Garraka's freeze.

While it made Garraka vulnerable to the power stream, he was powerful enough to overpower Phoebe, who needed psychic and supernatural help. Ancient firemaster Nadeem, played by Kumail Nanjiani, used his power to control flame while Phoebe's ghost friend, Melody, provided the match to ignite, making it a joint effort.

Powered by help from all sides, Phoebe controlled the monster ghost, and other ghostbusters locked him in the containment cell. Moreover, Ray destroyed the unit to banish Garraka from the interdimensional transit by closing the barrier. With that, all frozen spaces, things and humans thawed to their original form in the movie.

Melody bid Phoebe goodbye before moving to the afterlife

Melody, who had a deal with Garraka, and had infiltrated the busters' unit by befriending Phoebe developed soft feelings for her. As the friendship between the two girls grew, Melody realized Garraka had no intention of helping her ascend to the afterlife.

Phoebe had told Melody to move on on her own terms, which is what the teenager ghost did. Having used her matchbox to light Nadeem's flame, Melody redeemed herself and ascended to the afterlife.

While leaving, she left her beloved matchbox with Phoebe as a parting gift as Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire showed.

The city forced Mayor Peck to celebrate the Ghostbusters

The city was under threat of permanent damage (Image via Sony)

At the end of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the freshly defrosted city congratulated the Ghostbusters for their success in ridding them of the spooky problem. However, Mayor Walter Peck was still threatening to bring down the unit and close the Ghostbusters' actions.

While Mayor Peck arrived to arrest them, he was forced to pledge his support for the Ghostbusters in front of the public, with cameras and media watching. While Winston turned some lemons into lemonade, Peck was coerced into reinstating Phoebe.

Ghostbusters go back to business

The team will need to catch the remaining ghosts. (Image via Sony)

The last scene of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire shows the team of Ghostbusters trying to locate, chase and capture Slimer and the Sewer Dragon shown at the start of the movie. Captured at the start, they were released by Garraka.

Many other ghosts have been left loose in the city by the ancient ghost, and they need to be captured, including the Mini-Pufts. The end of the movie opens the way for a sequel if the production house plans for it in the future.

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Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is running in select theatres. While Sony Pictures has a deal with both Netflix and Disney+, the movie is yet to arrive on the streaming platforms.