Ghostbusters: Afterlife Belgium Premiere Report (November 9, 2021)

On Tuesday November 9, 2021, my dear friend Raffaele Ruffaldi attended the premiere of Ghostbusters: Afterlife (buy tickets here) in Brussels, Belgium. I would have to wait another week before the "world premiere" in New York City. Yeah, I don't know why they called the NYC showing a "world premiere" when it already premiered around the world over the prior few weeks, but whatever. Raffaele has been kind enough to let me share his photos and videos with all of you. They are being supplemented with photos taken by Roman Laschov for Sony Pictures, which were provided through Sony's Publicity website. Read on to find out more...

This won't be as long and image-intensive as my NYC premiere report because I wasn't personally at the Belgium premiere. Sorry, but the private jet was being washed that day. I'm writing this 100% off of Raffaele's and Sony's media. That said, this wasn't a super big event like in the City, so there isn't much to write about anyway.

The screening was held at the Kinepolis Brussel, which Raffaele tells me is one of the best cinemas in the country, and the only one equipped with an IMAX screen. After entering the theater, Raffaele made his way to the front desk to claim his tickets. You'll notice that the film was being promoted with two different titles: the English Ghostbusters: Afterlife and the French S.O.S. Fantomes: L'Heritage. This is because Belgium is a country whose residents speak three different languages. The two main languages are French and Flemish (a dialect of Dutch). Brussels (the capital) has inhabitants from both communities. A couple of cities also feature German-speaking people. Flemish do not dub their movies and usually only put subtitles on them. Raffaele told me that the film was shown with subtitles.


The theater hallway was decked out with Ghostbusters: Afterlife movie posters and a nice slimy green glow.


Here's the Sexiest Man Alive... and Paul Rudd. That's Raffaele standing next to a HUGE Ghostbusters: Afterlife standee wearing the "No Trepanning" shirt I gave him back when we met for the BBQ Films event in 2016. He's also wearing his Ghostbusters Fan Fest 2019 lanyard and badge.


Raffaele walked into the theater...


...and was greeted by this HUGE "welcome message" on the skyscraper-tall IMAX screen. This screening was presented with an introduction from director/co-writer Jason Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan.


Of course, Raffaele was not the only Ghosthead in attendance. The guys and gals from all of the local groups were there, as well. They brought their Proton Packs.


They even brought those Proton Packs, as well.


Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan came out to address the audience. They introduced themselves in French and in Flemish.


They gave a lengthy speech.


Here is Raffaele's video of that 15-minute speech. I pumped up the audio volume in spots so that everyone could be heard a little better.


After they were done talking, they invited the cosplay fans to come down for a photo op.


One of the fan groups presented Jason and Gil with a small token of their appreciation. Jason jokingly said to Gil that it would be beer. Sure enough, the group came out with literal bottles of "Ghostbusters Belgium: Belgian Beer".


And that's all there really is to this one. Not the star-studded extravaganza that I attended a week later, but I have no doubt that Raffaele enjoyed it just the same.

VIP-EXCLUSIVE BONUS FEATURE - All 13 of Sony's photos from the event.