While Dan Akroyd continues to throw Paul Feig under the bus over the last Ghostbusters movie, his fellow producer and franchise co-creator Ivan Reitman is looking forward. Rather than wallowing in what went wrong, Reitman is focused on what comes next. There may not be a reunion of the all-female squad, which I personally find disappointing, but Reitman has some cool ideas about taking the Ghostbusters global. He tells Super News Live [via Joblo] in an interview to celebrate Ghostbusters Day...
“What we’ve been doing a lot of is thinking about the franchise rights for ‘Ghostbusters.’ Because ‘Ghostbusters,’ that idea doesn’t have to just take place in New York, it can happen over the world. I think it would be really cool to see Korean ghosts or Chinese ghosts. All those great traditions in the world have all these tales and things those people are afraid of. To have a sort of local group of Ghostbusters that tie with the head office in New York would be fun."
All cool ideas. A Ghostbusters team with an international flavor could really work, and I think it would kill overseas. How do you say, "Who ya gonna call?" in Mandarin?
Initially the plan was to launch a Ghostbusters shared universe, but the odd thing is the original movie wasn't part of that landscape. It made no sense, especially when Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and Akroyd popped up for cameos as totally different characters. Who wants to see that? Well, Reitman still hopes to rectify that mistake...
“We’re doing a lot of work about where do we go next with ‘Ghostbusters.’ I think one thing that fans have clearly wanted, and so did I, that somehow we tie the worlds together. I think it was a little awkward that it wasn’t connected, and we certainly heard a lot from everybody out there. So I would definitely want to connect to all of that."
This suggests the female squad isn't finished yet, which I obviously have doubts about. It would really be up to Sony Pictures whether they want to give it another shot, maybe at a lower cost and with a different director. Although if you're talking about a meeting of both Ghostbusters squads that has to be one epic film with an incredible story to be done right.
