Well, despite recent comments by Dan Aykroyd about the ‘Ghostbusters’ franchise being dead, it seems not everyone over at Sony is quite as pessimistic. Sony themselves recently clarified some of the numbers that Aykroyd was citing, and after that, Ivan Reitman himself has come out with his own thoughts about the film and what might still happen for the sequel.
During an interview with Super News Live, Reitman shared his thoughts for the future of the franchise and the inclusion of the surviving members of the original cast:
“What we’ve been doing a lot of is thinking about the franchise rights for ‘Ghostbusters.’ Because ‘Ghostbusters,’ that idea doesn’t have to just take place in New York, it can happen over the world. I think it would be really cool to see Korean ghosts or Chinese ghosts. All those great traditions in the world have all these tales and things those people are afraid of. To have a sort of local group of Ghostbusters that tie with the head office in New York would be fun…We’re doing a lot of work about where do we go next with ‘Ghostbusters.’ I think one thing that fans have clearly wanted, and so did I, that somehow we tie the worlds together. I think it was a little awkward that it wasn’t connected, and we certainly heard a lot from everybody out there. So I would definitely want to connect to all of that.”
Personally, I think this sounds like a very interesting idea, even if it does play right into the hands of studio execs hungry for that overseas market, salivating at the thought of a movie that could appeal to countries around the world by busting ghosts across the globe. And I’m not sure how they would work the original cast back in at this point and connect the films, but it does seem like it needs to be done. And I’m glad to see them realize their mistake (or was it Paul Feig’s?) in the first reboot. Clearly Feig will not be in the director’s chair for any kind of sequel (at least according to the negativity being thrown his way by critics, fans and Akroyd), but whoever steps in to fill that role will have quite the task in store as he works to put the franchise back on track.
What are your thoughts on this possible future for the franchise? Do you think there is still something to salvage, or should they just scrap the whole thing and try again in 10 years when the memory of this reboot is mostly gone? Share your opinions in the comments below!
Nick is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, who belongs to the privileged few who enjoyed the ending to ‘Lost.’ For more of Nick’s thoughts and articles, follow him on Twitter.
