To say the reaction from fans over the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot was a low point for the internet would be an understatement. Even before its release, folks were outraged that a new iteration, starring women and ignoring the original two, was being made. And the fans certainly took out their anger on the stars and in particular, Leslie Jones. So much so that Jones quit Twitter briefly due to the harassment.
This incident had me really rooting for the Ghostbusters reboot to succeed. Sadly, however, despite the talents of those in front of the camera and director Paul Feig, the film was just kind of a “meh.” Not terrible, but also unmemorable. And the movie was supposed to be the start of a whole new franchise. It seriously underperformed though, making $229 million off of a hefty $144 million budget. It also didn’t help that China wouldn’t release it due to the country’s censorship rules over supernatural themes.
But Sony Pictures still sees this as a profitable franchise. Instead of another reboot though, director Jason Reitman is now making a continuation of the first two films, which were both directed by his father, Ivan. And despite the messy release of the 2016 version, Feig is happy to see Jason putting together another one and he’s also open and hopeful to Ghostbusters: Afterlife sharing the same universe as his effort.
“What’s so great, in the comic book world, they’ve done a lot of crossover ones where there’s like an interdimensional rip and our team joins up with the original Ghostbusters. So the fact that that’s already been laid and made comic book canon, anything could happen so who knows. I would love to see that team come back. We had so much fun making that movie, for whatever controversy it caused. The fact that so many kids love that, that we won the Nickelodeon Best Movie of the Year Award that year makes me very happy.”
Feig just has a wonderful attitude about Ghostbusters and the cast and I’m all for a crossover movie assuming Afterlife is a hit (again, think about China). It’s never a bad thing to get multiple funny people in one project and a crossover film featuring Bill Murray, Paul Rudd, Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig would be fantastic.
At the very least, it could ease some of the toxic feelings around the 2016 pic. Sony is certainly on the lookout for money-making franchises not named Spider-Man and they’re clearly looking at resuscitating old series. Last summer’s Men in Black: International crashed and burned, but they’re no doubt hoping that Bad Boys for Life makes some money this weekend and that Ghostbusters: Afterlife can do solid numbers at the box office when it opens on July 10th.