'Ghostbusters' TV Spots: The Real Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Returns

With exactly one month until the new Ghostbusters hits the big screen, it's time for the film's marketing to start hitting the small screen. A batch of Ghostbusters TV spots have arrived with some new footage from the movie, including a couple very cool action shots, and one sequence involving the return of the iconic Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from the original film. However, it's not in the form you'd expect. See what we're talking about in the Ghostbusters TV spots after the jump.

Here are the three new Ghostbusters TV spots:

When the Ghostbusters trailer showing the new giant monster in this reboot was revealed, many outlets falsely described it as the new Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. That's actually Rowan, and it appears to be a giant version of the ghost from the classic Ghostbusters logo (some have also pointed out that it resembles Dan Aykroyd). But the real Stay Puft Marshmallow Man has finally appeared.

In the second TV spot above, there's a quick shot of the Ghostbusters fighting some massive ghosts of balloons from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. This appears to be part of the sequence where New York City is overhauled by ghosts that make the city look like it did decades ago. You may remember this shot from one of the trailers:

The shot in question sees the city changing from its modern day appearance into a period at some point in the 1970s. How do we know that? The movie billboards include Tommy (1975), Taxi Driver (1976) and The Isle of Snake People (1971), which indicates a broad coverage of the decade. So maybe it's a sequence where we see New York devolve through previous decades, showing us a variety of ghosts. My hope is that this is the key to learning there are alternate dimensions as well, which may provide a link to the original Ghostbusters. After all Paul Feig said there were discussions of a multiverse being created behind the scenes.

However, I have one really nerdy nitpick about the inclusion of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. What's the inspiration for that balloon in the world in which the Ghostbusters reboot exists? Does the Stay Puft Marshmallow company exist in this world just as it did in the original Ghostbusters? That would also feed into the alternate universe idea if that's the case. But if it's just a fan service nod, that appearance doesn't really make sense.

This reference reminds me of a certain shot in Man of Steel, where we see young Clark Kent standing next to a clothesline with a makeshift red cape clothes-pinned to his shirt. It's a gorgeous shot, but it made me wonder what Clark's inspiration was for pretending to be a hero like that. In the real world, Superman inspires kids to throw a red cape on their back, but who was the superhero who inspired Clark to wear a cape like that?

Anyway, in case you haven't seen it yet, here's a new Ghostbusters poster:

Ghostbusters makes its long-awaited return, rebooted with a cast of hilarious new characters. Thirty years after the beloved original franchise took the world by storm, director Paul Feig brings his fresh take to the supernatural comedy, joined by some of the funniest actors working today – Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, and Chris Hemsworth. This summer, they're here to save the world! The film is produced by Ivan Reitman and Amy Pascal, and written by Katie Dippold & Paul Feig, based on the 1984 film "Ghostbusters," written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis and directed by Ivan Reitman.

Ghostbusters arrives July 15.