MTV News recently caught up with screenwriter Drew Pearce at the premiere of Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation, and he dropped some info about a new all male Ghostbusters that he was working on:
“I’ve finished my work on that in the last couple weeks. Obviously it’s top secret, but there’s a gigantic bold idea that I came up with, and the Russo brothers — who did ’Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ and are doing ’Civil War’ at the moment — and Ivan Reitman, who did the original movie, 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!”
As far as casting, he had this to say about the rumored Chris Pratt/ Channing Tatumin casting:
“That’s definitely the cast 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.”
He also likes the idea of a shared universe:
“My personal inclination is to try and make everything occur in the same ’Ghostbusters’ universe, because I feel, as a fan, that’s what I would want. Standing here in New York, you just wanna tie it all together. Whether that happens or not we’ll see, but I’ve certainly given them the tools to do that, I hope.”
News of a new Ghostbusters that is not an all female reboot excited us, not because we’re sexist assholes (we might be), but because it opens up the possibility that the original cast could have a proper send off, and pass the baton to a new cast.
However, just one day later, Ivan Reitman was quick to debunk that, releasing this statement:
“There has been a lot of excitement recently about what is happening with the Ghostbusters franchise. 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.”
Pearce then went on the clarify via Twitter:
For the record, my GB idea has a mixed gender team. Also ghosts of all classes (I to VII). It’s very inclusive that way.
— Drew Pearce (@mrdrewpearce) July 29, 2015
A following Tweet went on to clarify further:
Also, I’ve only written a bible (because I have to go off and direct my own stuff). No script yet. So news cycle: CHILL YOUR BOOTS.
— Drew Pearce (@mrdrewpearce) July 29, 2015
So it sounds like there may be something down the pipeline, but it’s still unclear what it is.
Not sure how an all-female cast would prevent a “passing of the baton”, which an all-male cast would facilitate it. If anything, the new movie seems to be a reboot, and another cast altogether, in a shared universe, seems something like a second Ghostbusters in another city. So, I don’t think there will be a baton passing, so to speak. Maybe I’m wrong. But, do we really need one, anyway? I think the original cast having cameos is good enough.
As long as Ernie Hudson doesn’t get the cameo shaft, the cameos are fine. It all just seems disrespectful to the original cast to completely ignore their wishes to make another one.