After plenty of speculation about the upcoming third Ghostbusters movie, it looks as though we won’t be getting a sequel… instead, it’s going to completely reboot the franchise.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, recently announced director Paul Feig revealed the shocking news – that Ghostbusters 3 won’t be a sequel at all.
“I thought, well, what if we just make it new?” he said. “It’s not coming into the world that existed before. It’s always hard if the world has gone through this big ghost attack, how do you do it again?”
Instead, it looks as though the new, all-female Ghostbusters will exist in their own, separate world that’s entirely separate to the original movies.
“I wanted to come into our world where there’s talk of ghosts but they’re not really credible,” he explained. “And so what would happen in our world if this happened today… Everything is up for grabs right now.”
It’s certainly a huge departure from the movie we were expecting. After all, a third Ghostbusters film has been in the works for years. But is this entirely new direction just a step too far?
“I look at this the same way a superhero movie launches where it’s always fun to see, like, what are they going to do with the costumes this time? What are they going to do with the hardware this time? It’s not going to be, here is the exact same stuff. It’s also not going to go, screw you if you like that stuff, it’s all completely different.”
So, can we expect those signature Proton Packs, Ghost Traps and beige overalls?
It certainly sounds as though this new Ghostbusters movie will take inspiration from the originals… but is that really enough to keep the fans interested?
It’s been 25 years since the Ghostbusters last took to our screens… and I can’t help thinking that a reprisal of the original team would have been more in line with what fans of the ageing franchise want to see.
And with the core Ghostbusting team switched to an all-female group, we’ve already seen plenty of discussion about what this means for the franchise.
“I really cannot believe we’re still having this conversation,” said Feig. “Some people accused it of kind of being a gimmick and it’s like, it would be a gimmick if I wasn’t somebody whose brain doesn’t automatically go to like, ‘I want to just do more stuff with women’.”
Of course, Paul Feig is famous for his female-led comedies – most notably, Bridesmaids and The Heat. But does this mean we can expect a similar treatment for the third ‘Ghostbusters’ movie?
“I just find funny women so great. For me it’s just more of a no-brainer. I just go, ‘what would make me excited to do it?’ I go, ‘four female Ghostbusters to me is really fun.’ I want to see that dynamic.”
Quite how this will work on screen remains to be seen… but I can’t help hoping this won’t simply devolve into another typical female-led comedy. After all, the original Ghostbusters brought a lot more to the table than simple humour. But for now, we’ll have to wait and see.
What do you think of these plans to reboot the Ghostbusters franchise? Has it all gone a bit too far? Let us know what you think in the comments below…
