Sony are planning big things with the Ghostbusters franchise as Deadline are reporting that another film is in development. This time, it’s a male-driven production to go with the female-led reboot already confirmed with Paul Feig at the helm. These films will be part of Ghostcorps, a production company that will be a part of Sony headed up by Ivan Reitman and Dan Akyroyd.
This new film has Captain America: The Winter Soldier makers the Russo Brothers at the helm, with Channing Tatum attached to be one of the producers and Drew Pearce, of Iron Man 3 fame, writing the script. Tatum is also expected to star in it.
Speaking on the prospect of making Ghostbusters an expansive franchise, Reitman told Deadline, “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,” Reitman said of the film that will re-launch this enterprise. “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.”
The other prinicpal members of Ghostcorps, apart from Akyroyd and Reitman, will be Tom Pollock, Ali Bell and Alex Plapinger, and Sony.
With the advent of the MCU, and Star Wars kicking back into gear with DC on its way, it looks like the Hollywood landscape is searching for those universal prospects that have shelf-life for years and years. Ghostbusters has never had a problem holding an audience’s attention, but an expanded universe without even seeing how the newest film feels a bit presumptuous, and puts a lot of pressure on those involved (even moreso than them being the first female ‘busters.) For now, we still have the female Ghostbusters to look forward to in 2016.
