ghostbusters

Last year’s Ghostbusters reboot was supposed to be the start of an entire new franchise (or perhaps even a universe of franchises) around the venerable ’80s horror comedy. Sony Pictures, which owns the rights to bust ghosts on the big screen, even created this new production company, Ghost Corps, to lead the charge on all these various efforts. There was talk of an all-male Ghostbusters to accompany the all-female team we got from director Paul Feig. And a new cartoon series was put into development as well. But since the movie opened to just so-so reviews and box office last year, developments on this front have been as quiet as Spook Central after a total protonic reversal.

We owe a lot to scientists — they cured polio, got us on the moon, and they‘re doing their darnedest to stop us from methodically killing the planet. But man, what a bunch of nerds. It seems like every time biologists discover a new species of animal and need to give it a name, they take the opportunity to bust out a reference to their favorite bit of geek-approved pop culture. Lest we forget the velvet worm named after My Neighbor Totoro, and we’d be remiss to overlook the euglossa bazinga, a rare bee with a Big Bang Theory catchphrase as its namesake. And it appears that now the nerds are at it again.

While last summer’s Ghostbusters didn’t get off to a very auspicious start, due to “My childhood!”-wailing Internet trolls and bad box office numbers coupled with the fact that the movie has its hilarious moments but was just fine overall, that doesn’t mean we’ll never see Gilbert, Patty, Yates, and Holtzmann onscreen again. In fact, the studio has a number of films in development, according to Ghostbusters’ producer Ivan Reitman (who also produced the 1984 version).

Because this summer’s Ghostbusters established an alternate universe in which the original bustin’ team never existed (kind of like how The Walking Dead exists in a universe with no zombie literature), it’s pretty much impossible for Holtzmann, Erin Gilbert, and the rest of the team to meet Peter Venkman’s original crew. In real life, that is. But in comics, anything is possible, and a new crossover announced for 2017 from publisher IDW will see both teams meeting up for the first time, which sounds like tons of fun for anyone who isn’t a supernatural spirit.

Ivan Reitman ain’t afraid of no underwhelming box office numbers. The original Ghostbusters director and producer of this year’s reboot says that despite weak returns for Paul Feig’s film, “there’s going to be many other” movies in the franchise. That statement contradicts a previous report, which indicated that Sony is focusing their energy on the animated Ghostbusters film and a new TV series, while the possibility of a sequel to Feig’s reboot had become very unlikely.

The following post contains SPOILERS for Blair Witch, Jason Bourne, Spectre, Ghostbusters, and Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Oh my God, Phantom Menace spoilers! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

With Paul Feig at the helm and a quartet of hilarious women who are great at improvising, it’s not surprising that the upcoming Blu-ray and DVD release of the Ghostbusters reboot is packed with additional scenes, outtakes, deleted scenes, gag reels and — as many fans hoped — an extended cut of the film. We won’t have a chance to see any of these bonus materials until October, but it should be interesting for those who felt as though Feig’s theatrical version may have been a little too safe.

The film had a $144 million budget, and is falling short of its $300 million break-even benchmark.

Paul Feig is best known for his original comedies, a filmmaker who’s brought the talents of female comedy actresses into the spotlight. But after rebooting ‘Ghostbusters’ with an all-female cast, Feig says he’ll return to original stories instead making another reboot.

How much does the new Ghostbusters need to make if it wants to be a bonafide, genuine hit? The opening weekend for director Paul Feig’s reboot of the beloved franchise raises more questions than answers and the second and third weekend will ultimately prove more telling. However, here’s what we can say right now: it opened with solid numbers in second place behind last week’s massive champion, The Secret Life of Pets.

If you’ve been to the supermarket or the toy store lately you’ve seen a lot of Ghostbusters tie-in merchandise. Action figures, beverages, snack cakes, stuffed dolls; you name it, they’re making it to promote the new Ghostbusters movie opening in theaters this Friday.

Movies and video games don’t exactly have the most pleasant working relationship. Films based on hit games are usually terrible (seriously, have you ever seen a good movie based on one?), and games based on movies aren’t always stellar, either. An official tie-in video game isn’t really a requirement, but if the film in question is a big budget blockbuster based on a popular existing brand, it presents an opportunity to cross revenue streams for an easy cash-in. Unfortunately, the trailer for the new Ghostbusters video game feels like a perfunctory afterthought — as if Sony suddenly snapped awake one morning and thought, “Oh, right, we should probably do that.”