The announcement of Paul Feig’s all-female reboot of the Ghostbusters, has led to mixed reactions from fans of the franchise. Many were concerned that it was merely a gimmick that was freeloading on the Ghostbusters brand. While others viewed it as a refreshing change of pace for a franchise that was stagnant anyways. According to a report from Deadline, Feig’s film is the first in a new Ghostbusters universe that is being guided by a brain-trust of impressive talent. Sony has formed a new film division called GhostCorps, that is being led by original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman and star and writer Dan Aykroyd.
They have begun assembling an all-star cast of producers, directors, and writers to take the franchise to the next level. Deadline explains the newly formed team.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier helmers Joe and Anthony Russo, who just made a first-look Sony deal and are looking to direct and produce this; Drew Pearce, the Iron Man 3 and Mission: Impossible 5 scribe who’ll write; and Channing Tatum and his partners Reid Carolin and Peter Kiernan, who are attached to produce. The hope is for Tatum to play one of the Ghostbusters in this film. Given his versatility and franchising success in 21 Jump Street and Magic Mike, he’s a good cornerstone to launch another Ghostbusters series.
Last week when the Russo Bros signed a first-look deal with Sony, speculation immediately turned to the Spider-Man franchise. Even though it is likely they will have a hand in producing Spider-Man, the pieces didn’t seem to quite fit. Particularly because the Russo Bros are considered the frontrunners for the Avengers: Infinity War. Not to mention, Drew Goddard has been widely speculated to be the first in line to write and direct the new web slinging franchise. However, it is now clear that the Russo Bros had their eyes on another huge franchise, the Ghostbusters.
It is not entirely surprising that Channing Tatum is looking to go into the ghost busting business. He and 22 Jump Street co-star Jonah Hill, were aggressively trying to cross their hit franchise over with Men in Black. Which many see as the spiritual successor to the Ghostbusters franchise anyways. In addition, during the Sony hack scandal it was uncovered that Tatum was looking to get Chris Pratt involved in the Ghostbusters as well. All of the clues begin to form the supernatural picture. Both Tatum and the Russo Bros have proven extremely capable of handling action and comedy, two requirements of anyone looking to make a Ghostbusters movie. The franchise is poised to expand like never before and Reitman explains the vision.
“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. My primary focus will be to build the Ghostbusters into the universe it always promised it might become. The original film is beloved, as is the cast, and we hope to create films we will continue to love.”
This new deal is said to have been pushed through by new Sony studio head Tom Rothman, who was responsible for the era at Fox that produced the Fantastic Four and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Hopefully the newly formed brain-trust will get the autonomy needed to bring the Ghostbusters franchise back in the right way. There will be much more on this story as more details become available, so make sure to keep checking back.
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Source: Deadline