This summer’s ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot, directed by Paul Feig, starring an all-star cast of female comedians took in $229.1 million on a budget of $144M, so it really wasn’t a flop, but at the same time, don’t expect a direct sequel. The film was plagued by negative (not to mention sexist and racists) chatter from the start and Feig and the cast have already conceded that they don’t really want to go through that again.
But according to Ivan Reitman, the director of the first two ‘Ghostbusters’ and purveyor of the franchise, that doesn’t mean there won’t be another… actually several more ‘Ghostbusters’ films on the big screen.
He recently announced on the Mr. Wavy podcast:
“There’s going to be many other Ghostbusters movies, they’re just in development right now.”
There had already been rumblings of separate ‘Ghostbusters’ movies being in development, which would form a shared universe, including one starring Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt, with Marvel’s Joe and Anthony Russo on board to produce and possibly direct, but that was denied. There was also talk of an animated feature film.
Of course, fans have wanted to see a new ‘Ghostbusters’ with the original cast since 1989’s ‘Ghostbusters II’ but there have been numerous obstacles– well one big one big one, Bill Murray who wasn’t keen on returning. Murray reportedly provided a cameo in this year’s reboot because he hoped that meant a permanent passing of the torch. The 2014 death of Harold Ramis, who not only played Egon Spengler but originated the concept and penned the screenplay for the first movie with Dan Aykroyd, seemingly put the kibosh on a full-blown original ‘Ghostbusters’ reunion ever happening.
But Sony, who holds the rights to the franchise, was determined to make a new film with or without the involvement of the original creators and cast. It just so happened that Feig’s vision was the one they went with (possibly to firmly differentiate it from the original), and that one didn’t work out.
It’s entirely possible that the brand is big enough to overcome the lackluster reboot, but either way, don’t expect Murray to be involved and since the rest of the original cast cameo’ed in this one, they may not be in any new films either.
Either way, it should come as no surprise that Sony still sees money to be made off of ‘Ghostbusters’, but hopefully any upcoming efforts to reboot it will go over better than this last one.
How would you like to see ‘Ghostbusters’ return? Should they stick with the horror/comedy formula? What about a more serious take? What actors do you think would up up to the task of putting on those famous jumpsuits?
Source: Collider
