If the idea of a Ghostbusters reboot pumped blood into your childhood whims by existing, but simultaneously made you uncomfortable because its protagonists weren’t men, you can relax. Sony Pictures is planning to pair the Paul Feig-directed, Kristen Wiig-starring reboot set to go into production this summer with a bro-heavy counterpart.
On board for this follow-up exercise is original director Ivan Reitman. Reitman and original Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd are both principals at new Sony production company Ghostcorps. The crack team of dudes trusted with the keys to the mancave includes the dudes that wrote the last pointless Captain America movie, Joe and Anthony Russo, who will direct and produce the thing; the dude that wrote Iron Man 3, Drew Pearce; and Channing Tatum who is on as a producer and will be expected to don a proton pack.
Reitman told Deadline that he is basically trying to make a movie that was cool in the early ’80s into a Marvel-esque franchise. This is of course an unpleasant notion:
“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. 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.”
And so the Wiig and Melissa McCarthy movie is but a space monkey expected to set the table for an onslaught of branded content starring dudes. The whole mess makes you appreciate the one-off elegance of Kindergarten Cop.
Photo via poppet with a camera/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)