The future of the “Ghostbusters” franchise was uncertain after last year’s female-fronted reboot failed to recoup Sony’s hefty production and marketing expenses at the box office. But Ivan Reitman, who directed the original and co-owns the Ghost Corps production company, says more slime is on the way.
In an interview with io9 published Tuesday, Reitman acknowledged the remake’s disappointing returns but said the intended cinematic universe will expand nonetheless. First up is an animated movie (coming in 2019 or 2020), and Reitman says he is currently “developing” more live-action installments.
“We certainly would’ve loved to have a larger hit,” Reitman said. “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.”
Feig has sent mixed messages about a potential sequel. Last October, he discussed his contentious relationship with Sony, including battles about which jokes would be cut from the movie. He said he’d love to see Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon suit up again, but then in November said he’d be “very surprised” if the studio opted to move forward with the “Ghostbusters” franchise.
Released last July, “Ghostbusters” made $229 million worldwide. At first glance, that’s not bad. But when the $144 million budget and sizable marketing expenses are taken into account, it turns out Sony reportedly needed about $300 million in revenue just to break even. But, as we’ve seen a lot lately, studios are desperate to juice their existing intellectual property, regardless of whether there’s verifiable audience interest.
The Huffington Post reached out to a Sony rep, but she declined to comment.
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