Suck in your guts, the Ghostbusters are coming back.
Sony is ready to believe in its franchise again, and it’s going straight to the source material. As Entertainment Weekly reports, director Jason Reitman, aka son of original director Ivan Reitman, will co-write and direct a new sequel that will be set in the original universe.
In other words, the world where Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis), Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts), Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver), and Louis Tully (Rick Moranis) all exist.
“I’ve always thought of myself as the first Ghostbusters fan, when I was a six-year-old visiting the set. I wanted to make a movie for all the other fans,” Reitman told the publication. “This is the next chapter in the original franchise. It is not a reboot. What happened in the ‘80s happened in the ‘80s, and this is set in the present day.”
Update: Sony has already shared a teaser trailer for Reitman’s Ghostbusters movie. Watch it here.
Fans who were disappointed in Paul Feig’s 2016 remake, which turned the reset button on the beloved franchise and drew all kinds of controversy from idiots who hated an all-female cast and stand-offs who wouldn’t accept any sort of criticism, should breathe a sigh of relief.
“I have so much respect for what Paul created with those brilliant actresses,” Reitman added, “and would love to see more stories from them. However, this new movie will follow the trajectory of the original film.”
Already, Sony has dated the film for a Summer 2020 release with filming to commence this summer, which should coincide with the previously reported 30th anniversary plans that include a two-day Ghostbusters Fest this June on the original Sony lot.
Reitman co-wrote the script with director Gil Kenan (Monster House, Poltergeist), and is keeping mum on the details, particularly which of the original characters (if any) will return to the fold.
“This is very early, and I want the film to unwrap like a present,” Reitman said. “We have a lot of wonderful surprises and new characters for the audience to meet.” He went on to add, “I’ve thought about this franchise and it has occupied a piece of my heart for basically as long as I can remember.”
No kidding. Reitman appeared in both films. In the original, he can be seeing fleeing Barrett’s apartment, and in the second one, he plays a dickhead teenager who ridicules both Stanz and Zeddemore at a birthday party.
“It will be a passing of the torch both inside and out,” his father, Ivan, said. He’ll still be around, however, serving as a producer through his Montecito Pictures moniker. “It was a decision [Jason] had to come to himself. He worked really hard to be independent and developed a wonderful career on his own. So I was quite surprised when he came to me with Gil and said, ‘I know I’ve been saying for 10 years I’m the last person who should make a Ghostbusters movie, but…I have this idea.’ Literally, I was crying by the end of it, it was so emotional and funny.”
This won’t be the only Ghostbusters movie, either. Sony still has its eyes set on creating an animated movie, which won’t drop until after this film. Seeing how well Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse turned out, it’s not surprising to see the studio’s confidence reignited on the project.
Last year, Reitman released the critically acclaimed indie favorite, Tully, starring Charlize Theron and Mackenzie Davis. In the time since, he had been developing this movie under the fake title Rust City to stay under wraps. Hollywood. I love this town!
