Director Jason Reitman has revealed that his father cried after watching the new Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel.

Speaking to Empire, Reitman, whose father Ivan directed the original two Ghostbusters films, said he was able to show him the film for the first time in December.

Reitman said: “My father hasn’t been leaving the house much because of Covid. But he took a test, put on a mask and drove down to the Sony lot to watch the movie with the studio. And after, he cried, and he said, ‘I’m so proud to be your father.’ And it was one of the great moments of my life.”

The film, which arrives this summer, is set in the same universe as the two first films and will see members of the original cast return including Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson.

It will also be set in rural Oklahoma and will star Mckenna Grace and Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard.

Elsewhere in the interview, Reitman said that he tried to make the new film as scary as the first two.

He added: “The feeling that I’ve kind of held onto is that while it is very funny, it really scared me. It was really my first experience with a horror film.

“I was at a Directors Guild meeting and I happened to be sitting next to Steven Spielberg – when I told him I was working on Ghostbusters, he out of nowhere said, ‘Library Ghost – top ten scares of all time.’ And it’s true.”

Last year, Reitman teased a first-look image of the sequel for those attending drive-in theatre viewings of the franchise’s original movie.