The release of Ghostbusters this summer was intended to jump-start a franchise that has long been on Sony Pictures’ to-do list, but unfortunately, it didn't quite hit like the studio was hoping. Director Paul Feig’s reboot was at a disadvantage from the start, as his decision to fill the cast with female comedians set off a seemingly unending screed of misogyny in the darkest corners of the internets, and while the finished film was solid, it was still mired in the harassment of its stars and online campaigns intended to make the film fail at every turn. While the film managed to score mostly positive reviews, it cracked $229.1 million at the worldwide box office, which isn’t an outright bomb but also isn’t quite what Sony was hoping for when they OK’d a budget of $144 million.
And so while the reboot did fine, it wasn’t exactly the runaway hit the studio was hoping. Feig has expressed his desire to continue on with the franchise (and I’d be 100% down for more sequels with these characters), but Sony has thus far remained mum on the prospect of Ghostbusters 2.
However, Ivan Reitman—director of the first two Ghostbusters films and purveyor of the entire franchise IP—recently provided something of an update with regards to the future of the Ghostbusters property, and it’s good news depending on who you are. Speaking on the Mr. Wavy podcast (via /Film), Reitman had this to say:
"There's going to be many other Ghostbusters movies, they're just in development right now.”
Around the same time that Feig’s Ghostbusters was finally taking shape, news broke that Sony was also in the early stages of developing a separate Ghostbusters movie that would potentially star Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt, with Captain America: Civil War directors Joe and Anthony Russo producing and possibly directing. The idea was for the paths of the Tatum/Pratt film and Feige’s cast to eventually cross paths in a team-up movie, with four films in total, but this was apparently news to Feig, and since all of this was overshadowing the actual Ghostbusters movie that was being made, things went quiet and denials from those involved swiftly came down.
So while Reitman says there are going to be many other Ghostbusters movies, he may just be speaking broadly. Reitman created the production company Ghost Corps to specifically oversee the Ghostbusters property, so he’s no doubt developing a number of ideas to see the franchise continue in a variety of forms. When/if these will see the light of day is another question, as is whether the Tatum/Pratt movie is now officially dead.
All of this to say, there may be more Ghostbusters movies in the near future, and there may not be. A continuation doesn’t necessarily mean a sequel to Feig’s movie and could be another reboot/remake of sorts, or it could be a spinoff film or even an animated feature. But given how long Reitman and Co. were talking about the Ghostbusters reboot before it actually happened, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
