Even before Paul Feig’s reboot of Ghostbusters hit theatres, there was a fair amount of sequel chatter over at Sony. It made sense, too, given the immense popularity of the franchise and the talent that the director had brought on board for his updated take on the iconic film. However, after a less than impressive theatrical run, the studio has seemingly changed its mind about a follow-up.
Though it didn’t completely bomb, Ghostbusters‘ $229 million take at the box office wasn’t enough for Sony to break even and while a good amount of fans did enjoy the reboot quite a bit, it certainly didn’t please everyone. As such, it’s probably safe to assume that those sequel plans have been placed on the back-burner for now.
That doesn’t mean we should give up hope, however, as Feig told The Daily Beast that he’s still up for making another one – Sony just has to give him the green light:
That’s up to the studio because they have to pay for it. Nobody’s called me. But I love those characters and I know they are now heroes and mean a lot to a lot of people, so in a perfect world it would be great if we could see them bust more ghosts, kick more ass, and be awesome again.
The core cast has been contracted for two more sequels, so there would be no problem getting them back, and obviously Feig is down to return, so it really does seem like the ball is in Sony’s court now. Given some of the criticisms levelled against the reboot, the studio could also choose to move ahead with a new director at the helm, but personally, I’d be all for Feig coming back. Ghostbusters was certainly a bit uneven, but on the whole it was a solid blockbuster with some strong, original ideas behind it – even if it did fumble them near the end – and a stellar cast to boot.
For now, we’ll just have to wait and see how this all plays out. Obviously, a Ghostbusters 2 is far from a priority for Sony right now, but with the cast still under contract and Feig game to return, we’ll remain hopeful that a sequel will eventually materialize.