Last year’s “Ghostbusters” reboot wasn’t the massive hit that the studio and filmmakers were hoping for. No matter your thoughts on the finished product, the film just didn’t make enough money to warrant a sequel. But that’s not deterring producer Ivan Reitman from keeping hope alive. He’s not just planning to continue the “Ghostbusters” franchise with another movie, he’s planning on multiple movies.
“We jumped into an animated film [after the last movie] and we are developing live-action films. I want to bring all these stories together as a universe that makes sense within itself. Part of my job right now is to do that,” said Reitman in an interview with io9.
Is the public craving more “Ghostbusters” movies, especially an animated film? That’s the big question. Reitman is betting there’s still a big outcry for more stories from the “Ghostbusters” universe. Before the reboot film premiered last summer, there were tons of rumors about a “Ghostbusters” cinematic universe combining the female cast with another franchise of people busting ghosts that starred Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt. It’s not known if the “universe” that Reitman is hinting at is this plan or a completely new one.
Reitman also has some thoughts about why the reboot didn’t do so well. “We certainly would’ve loved to have a larger hit, but considering the last film was almost 30 years ago, it really did extremely well. I think the film cost too much, frankly, and that’s the real issue. I personally had other points of view in terms of where the film should go and it was kind of a continuous conversation with Paul [Feig] about that. But Paul was the filmmaker on this one and he’s a very talented director. I wanted to give him enough room to do the film he thought it should be,” said the producer.
With the long layoff between films, and the lukewarm reception of the last film, it remains unclear whether or not Reitman is right or maybe the public just isn’t interested in a new version of “Ghostbusters.” Even with the controversy surrounding the 2016 film, with an all-star cast and director, it still failed to live up to expectations. Even if that film ended up only costing $70 million instead of $144 million, the final worldwide box office total of $229 million isn’t enough to warrant a huge franchise.
According to Reitman, the animated film is shooting for release in 2019 or 2020.