Key Takeaways
- Bill Murray reprises Dr. Peter Venkman in Rivian’s "Answering the Call" ad, trapping Slimer after the ghost raids a suburban refrigerator.
- Rivian’s Halloween software update turns its vehicles into Ghostbusters-themed rides with synchronized lights, iconic sounds, hidden characters, lock effects, and the parked-only “Mallow Mash” game.
- Murray launched the campaign with a New York joyride in the custom Ecto-R1, which will also appear at Rivian locations across six cities and Manhattan’s Village Halloween Parade.
Bill Murray is answering the call as Dr. Peter Venkman once more, and the job this time is a suburban fridge raid.
On Thursday (October 8), Rivian Automotive, the electronic vehicle manufacture, released "Answering the Call," a new ad that sees Murray reprise his iconic Ghostbusters role.
The spot opens on Halloween eve with Slimer chewing through whatever is left in a family's refrigerator. A siren outside pulls the ghoul's attention, and Venkman shows up at the door with a bit about a Hawaiian pizza order. "Look who's coming to dinner. It's little chunky. Come on to Papa!" Murray says, before sealing the trap with a flat, "Night-night."
Gil Kenan directed the spot, which keeps the franchise's recent creative team intact: Kenan co-wrote Ghostbusters: Afterlife and directed Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the 2023 film that marked Murray's last outing as Venkman.
The ad is to promote an over-the-air software update installed on all Rivian vehicles, transforming each into a ghost-hunting machine. Drivers can turn on Halloween Mode for sounds, lights and clues that unlock hidden characters and even a few unexpected surprises.
Trick or Treat Mode takes over the driver and rear screens with the Ghostbusters theme and synced exterior lights, with theme options spanning Ecto-1, Proton Pack, Slimer, Ghost Trap, and Venkman himself. Owners can also swap in Ecto-1 or Proton Pack lock sounds and hunt for hidden clue cards tucked into the Drive Modes and Energy menus.
Two smaller touches round it out: the Rivian Assistant voice picks up an eerie seasonal tone, and a center-screen arcade game called "Mallow Mash" has drivers popping Mini-Pufts marshmallow men while parked.
Rivian's Special Projects team also built the Ecto-R1, a custom R1S wearing a red body stripe and the No-Ghost logo on its hood and front doors. White wheel covers nod to the original's chrome hubcaps, and a custom roof rack carries sirens, spotlights, a radar dish, and side tanks, with vintage emergency lights sourced and restored in-house.
Murray celebrated the launch at an event in New York City on Thursday night, surrounded by original props from the film and special Ecto-1 builds. He even took a spontaneous joyride through New York in a reimagined Rivian "Ecto-R1," surprising New Yorkers on the street.
The Ecto-R1 builds hit the road this month, with stops at Rivian spaces in Laguna Beach, Venice, Austin, Miami Brickell, San Francisco, and New York City's Meatpacking District, plus the Village Halloween Parade in Manhattan.
The holiday drop has become a yearly habit for the automaker, which ran a Swamp Thing theme in 2025 and Knight Rider and Back to the Future tie-ins in 2024.
