The weak box office performance of Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters, along with the not-so-great reaction from fans and critics alike, put the future of the franchise in uncertain jeopardy, but the creative forces behind all things Ghostbusters have repeatedly insisted that the proton packs will soon be fired up again. What’s the latest on all that? Well, Ivan Reitman ain’t afraid of no flops.
Speaking with io9 about the just-released VR game Ghostbusters: Now Hiring, Reitman provided an update on the future of the film franchise, noting that an animated film is in the works and more live action movies are also coming soon. At the same time, he admits that measures could have been taken to ensure that Feig’s reboot was less of a failure than it ended up being.
Said Reitman:
We certainly would’ve loved to have a larger hit. 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.
In regards to future projects, Reitman told the site:
We jumped into an animated film [after the last movie] and we are developing live-action films. I want to bring all these stories together as a universe that makes sense within itself. Part of my job right now is to do that.
The animated film, which was initially reported last year, may see release as early as 2019 or 2020. Of course, Reitman notes that the film’s release date is dependent upon many factors.
“It’s hard to make an animated film,” he noted.
