One of the biggest rumours surrounding Sony's plans for the Ghostbusters franchise was that the studio was also making a male-centered installment in addition to the female-centered team in Paul Feig's reboot. The reports (which were formulated based on leaked Sony emails) continued to say that both teams would then unite in a team-up film to take down a major threat. Actors rumoured for the project were Chris Pratt and Channing Tatum, though those plans never seemed to materialize as time went on, with Pratt himself calling the rumours "complete bullshit". Other reports stated that the Pratt-led team was a back-up plan in case the reboot faltered.
In a new interview, original series director Ivan Reitman (who also produced the new film) has confirmed that while an additional film was planned very early on, it never really got off the ground. “I was never involved in that, it was never real. There was a writer hired by the studio who did 30 pages, and it wasn’t very good,” Reitman said in an interview with The Globe and Mail. “The biggest misconception was that we were creating a parallel film in case the girls version didn’t work out. But the only movie we were making was Paul’s movie. It never faltered.”
Sony still has plans to expand the Ghostbusters franchise, however. While a male-centric film might not be moving ahead, Sony still has their film division, Ghost Corp., which is committed to producing sequels and spinoffs, the first being the Sony Animation produced Ghostbusters: Ecto Force, a futuristic animated series set in the year 2050. Reitman confirmed that Sony also has plans to "make sense" of the original film series and the new rebooted one, though he took umbrage with the term 'cinematic universe'. “I hate using those terms – it diminishes what we’re going to end up doing,” Reitman said “But we’re hoping we can make sense of these two parallel movies [the original series and the Feig reboot] – we have an idea for it, we’re working on it.”
Meanwhile, the Ghostbusters reboot has seemed to have performed well enough this weekend to convince Sony that the franchise is viable enough to continue. “The Ghostbusters world is alive and well," President of Worldwide Distribution at Sony Rory Bruer told The Wrap. “I expect Ghostbusters to become an important brand and franchise. While nothing has been officially announced yet, there’s no doubt in my mind it will happen". Ghostbusters' $46 million opening didn't make it the number one film this weekend, but it did have the accomplishment of being the highest-grossing live action comedy in over a year.
Would you have liked to see a Ghostbusters film with Chris Pratt and Channing Tatum? How do you think the studio plans to make sense of the two film series? Sound off below!
About The Author:
Matt is a graduate of the Ryerson University School of Journalism, and has been a fan of superheroes since he picked up his first comic book issue as a child. While he works as a professional musician, Matt has a massive passion for comic books, films and heroes, along with participating in discussion and debate with the CBM community.