Ivan Reitman denies existence of other Ghostbusters films
There have rumblings of an alternate Ghostbusters film starring Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt for the Russo Brothers (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) to direct for several months, with screenwriter Drew Pearce recently adding fuel to the fire, but original Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II director Ivan Reitman has issued a statement shutting down those rumors hard.
“There has been a lot of excitement recently about what is happening with the ‘Ghostbusters’ franchise,” states Reitman. “As the producer of the new ‘Ghostbusters’ film, I feel the need to clarify. There is only one new ‘Ghostbusters’ movie and that is the Paul Feig directed version coming next July, presently filming and going fantastically. The rest is just noise.”
Along with this statement was a message from the Montecito Picture Company clarifying that before Feig’s reboot was greenlit, several writing teams were engaged by Sony to present different pitches, with the Pearce/Russos/Pratt/Tatum venture likely one of them, although no formal conversations ever took place.
This was corroborated by Channing Tatum’s production partner Reid Carolin to ScreenRant as well as Chris Pratt directly to GQ last month, when they confirmed it was no longer (or possibly never was) in the cards.
“We’re not doing that anymore,” Carolin stated bluntly. “I think it’s too complicated. There’s a lot of things going on with that brand and I just feel like it’s over-saturated.”
“No one has ever even spoken to me about that,” Pratt stated. “Never. I’ve even seen Channing a couple times. As far as I know, that’s complete bulls–t.”
However, to hear Iron Man 3 and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation writer Pearce talk about it to MTV, you would think it’s something that is still very much active.
“I’ve finished my work on that in the last couple weeks,” Pearce said this week. “Obviously it’s top secret, but there’s a gigantic bold idea that I came up with, and the Russo brothers and Ivan Reitman are going to take that and run with it. Obviously I cannot tell you what it is, but hopefully in one year’s time you’ll know! That’s definitely the cast [Tatum & Pratt] we’ve been thinking about as we approach the project. Whether that happens or not is very much above my pay grade. It’s just my job to give them something exciting that maybe they’ll do.”
Pearce states that the plan is for this potential Boy-busters to be set in the same universe as Feig’s film, but whether that means it will be a team-up movie with Kristen Wiig & Co. or simply acknowledge her team’s existence with a cameo remains to be seen. The denials on Reitman’s camp could ultimately mean one of two things: 1) The Boy-busters concept was scrapped after Feig came in even though it’s only now trickling to the press, or 2) Sony and Reitman ARE developing it but do not want to get too ahead of themselves as the studio did on their aborted plans for an interconnected Spider-Man universe (Sinister Six, Venom, Black Cat, etc.) that went by the wayside when Amazing Spider-Man 2 underperformed.
Paul Feig‘s upcoming Ghostbusters reboot stars Kristen Wiig as “Erin Gilbert,” Kate McKinnon as “Jillian Holtzmann,” Melissa McCarthy as “Abby Yates” and Leslie Jones as “Patty Tolan.” The film will also feature Andy Garcia as the Mayor of New York City, Michael K. Williams as a character named “Hawkins,” Matt Walsh as a character named “Rourke,” Chris Hemsworth as the Ghostbusters’ secretary, and Neil Casey as the film’s villain. New York City’s NY1 news anchor Pat Kiernan is also set to appear as news anchor in the film. Original star/co-creator Dan Aykroyd will have a cameo.
Directed by Feig from a script he co-wrote with Katie Dippold, Ghostbusters is currently filming for a July 22, 2016 release.
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The Ghostbusters Abby (Melissa McCarthy), Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), Erin (Kristen Wiig) and Patty (Leslie Jones) inside the Mercado Hotel Lobby in Columbia Pictures' GHOSTBUSTERS.
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The Ghostbusters Abby (Melissa McCarthy), Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), Erin (Kristen Wiig) and Patty (Leslie Jones) in Columbia Pictures' GHOSTBUSTERS.
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The Ecto-2 on the set of Columbia Pictures' GHOSTBUSTERS.
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Abby (Melissa McCarthy) and Erin (Kristen Wiig) see the Gertrude the Ghost (Bess Rous) of Aldridge Mansion in Columbia Pictures' GHOSTBUSTERS.
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Erin (Kristen Wiig) comes to talk to Abby (Melissa McCarthy) and Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) at the Paranormal Studies Lab at the Higgin's Institute in Columbia Pictures' GHOSTBUSTERS.
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Abby (Melissa McCarthy), Erin (Kristen Wiig), Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) and Patty (Leslie Jones) in Columbia Pictures' GHOSTBUSTERS.
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The Ghostbusters new receptionist Kevin (Chris Hemsworth) in Columbia Pictures' GHOSTBUSTERS.
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Gertrude the Ghost in Columbia Pictures' GHOSTBUSTERS.
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Slimer in Columbia Pictures' GHOSTBUSTERS.
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Stickman Ghost in Times Squares in New York in Columbia Pictures' GHOSTBUSTERS.
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Ghostbusters Abby (Melissa McCarthy), Erin (Kristen Wiig), Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) and Patty (Leslie Jones) surrounded by ghosts in Times Squares in New York in Columbia Pictures' GHOSTBUSTERS.
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Director/writer Paul Feig poses with screenwriter Katie Dippold in front of the iconic fire station 8 Hook & Ladder 8 on the set of Columbia Pictures' GHOSTBUSTERS.
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Director Paul Feig and DP Robert Yeoman on the set of Columbia Pictures' GHOSTBUSTERS.
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Director Paul Feig on the set of Columbia Pictures' GHOSTBUSTERS.
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Ghostbusters (2016) Proton Pack
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Ghostbusters (2016) uniforms
