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Russo Brothers & Channing Tatum Team for Another 'Ghostbusters'

by Ethan Anderton
March 9, 2015
Source: Deadline

Back during the height of the leak from Sony Pictures, one of the stories that surfaced was of another Ghostbusters film that would bring back an all-male cast to follow the forthcoming all-female reboot starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones. Channing Tatum was said to be involved and the hope was to get Chris Pratt on board too. While the latter seems to still be in flux, Deadline is reporting this companion Ghostbusters project is part of a new endeavor at Sony Pictures called Ghost Corps. and Anthony & Joe Russo, fresh off their new deal at the studio, will be directing this one.

The Russo brothers are coming off Captain America: The Winter Soldier and gearing up for Captain America: Civil War, and now it's clear what Sony wanted them for with this new Ghostbusters project. The script for this new all-male team of Ghostbusters will come from Iron Man and Mission: Impossible 5 writer Drew Pearce with Tatum producing along with his collaborators Reid Carolin and Peter Kiernan. The hope is for Tatum to also star in the film (Ryan Gosling was mentioned last year as well), but it sounds like that may not be a done deal just yet since the details are still being worked out by new studio head Tom Rothman and production president Michael De Luca.

As for Ghost Corps., it's a new company that has Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd as principal executives with the task of creating new branding opportunities for the iconic paranormal comedy franchise at Sony, which includes a Ghostbusters cinematic universe. Here's what Reitman says about that big plan:

“We want to expand the Ghostbusters universe in ways that will include different films, TV shows, merchandise, all things that are part of modern filmed entertainment. This is a branded entertainment, a scary supernatural premise mixed with comedy. Paul Feig’s film will be the first version of that, shooting in June to come out in July, 2016. He’s got four of the funniest women in the world, and there will be other surprises to come. The second film has a wonderful idea that builds on that. Drew will start writing and the hope is to be ready for the Russo Brothers’ next window next summer to shoot, with the movie coming out the following hear. It’s just the beginning of what I hope will be a lot of wonderful movies.”

It seems like a lot to plan without seeing what this first Ghostbusters reboot will look like from director Paul Feig. But at the same time, if this all-female one happens to not be a hit, then the studio can just follow up with this new team and see if they stick. No matter what, the plan is to make Ghostbusters just as big as Marvel or Star Wars. Reitman adds, "My primary focus will be to build the Ghostbusters into the universe it always promised it might become. The original film is beloved, as is the cast, and we hope to create films we will continue to love." It's early days for this plan to come together, but it's clear that Ghostbusters will have a whole new life ahead, and we're anxious to see how it turns out. Thoughts?

UPDATE: After some uproar and general disbelief that Sony Pictures was planning a different all-male Ghostbusters to come after the forthcoming all-female reboot of the paranormal comedy franchise from director Paul Feig, Badass Digest did some digging and clarified some details, many of which were just as easily assumed, but are nonetheless comforting for anyone confused or worried about what this meant.

First of all, while there will be a cast of male Ghostbusters at the center of this second film, it's not meant to be guy-centric, much like the original Ghostbusters was not geared towards male audiences and Paul Feig's reboot is not meant to appeal only to women. Channing Tatum is supposed to star, and Chris Pratt is very much part of this project as well. Apparently this collaboration between the two stars blossomed from their real life friendship and isn't just another blockbuster franchise given to Pratt because he's on top of the world right now.

Second, these two films are meant to compliment each other as existing in the same shared universe, and it's just the beginning of a four film plan. The third film would see both sets of Ghostbusters teaming up to fight some kind of paranormal force, not unlike an assembly of The Avengers. So what about that fourth film? Reportedly that will be some kind of prequel though there aren't any details as to when it would take place or what it would involved. However, one thing it definitely won't involve is any of the original characters from the the old Ghostbusters, so we'll just go ahead and crush your dreams straightaway.

Finally, this is meant to set the stage for films outside of characters busting ghosts. This universe being created is supposed to be "the catch-all umbrella for a world of supernatural FX comedies." So perhaps if Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg decided to do some kind of supernatural comedy at Sony Pictures (that's not actually in development, it's just an example), it would fit in with this universe, but wouldn't necessarily have characters as Ghostbusters. That seems a bit excessive, but the concept to have a variety of films with different tones existing in the same world is still somewhat intriguing. It's just nice to know there's some meticulous planning going on to create a different kind of cohesive, larger world and Sony isn't just trying to appease male audiences who weren't happy about all-female Ghostbusters. Any more thoughts?

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