This summer, all eyes are on the Paul Feig-directed reboot of the venerable 80s horror/comedy ‘Ghostbuster’ with Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones stepping into the jumpsuits of comedy legends Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson. The idea of an all-female cast ruffled some folks’ feathers and soon word came that Columbia Pictures was developing a separate ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot with a male cast, with Channing Tatum allegedly in the running to headline.
This second ‘Ghostbusters’ may still happen, but the directors Columbia had hoped to wrangle to direct it, Joe and Anthony Russo are too busy with the two ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ films to participate.
Joe Russo recently announced:
“There was a period there when Paul Feig was engaging Sony in talks about GHOSTBUSTERS and we were also engaging them. He was further along with his process than we were and he closed his deal so that’s the only GHOSTBUSTERS world that’s being explored right now over at Sony. Once we took AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR it took us off the table for any kind of any potential work on a GHOSTBUSTERS project.”
Original producer Ivan Reis had previously announced plans to craft a ‘Ghostbusters’ universe, saying:
“We want to expand the Ghostbusters universe in ways that will include different films, TV shows, merchandise, all things that are part of modern filmed entertainment. This is a branded entertainment, a scary supernatural premise mixed with comedy. Paul Feig’s film will be the first version of that, shooting in June to come out in July, 2016. He’s got four of the funniest women in the world, and there will be other surprises to come. The second film has a wonderful idea that builds on that. Drew will start writing and the hope is to be ready for the Russo Brothers’ next window next summer to shoot, with the movie coming out the following year. It’s just the beginning of what I hope will be a lot of wonderful movies.”
However, just months later, Reitman himself stated:
“There is only one new Ghostbusters movie and that is the Paul Feig directed version coming next July, presently filming and going fantastically. The rest is just noise.”
Oddly, it is noise that Reitman himself made.
Most likely, the studio just wants to allow the Paul Feig-directed film to shine on its own merits or to see how the film does to determine whether or not there is enough interest in the brand to continue with more, different takes.
Are you a big enough ‘Ghostbusters’ fan that you would support a slew of films based on the concept?
Source: /Film
