Turns out there's more to the continued Ghostbusters saga than that new, all-female Paul Feig film. Sony just announced they'll expand the universe with a counterbalance, action-centric new male installment starring Channing Tatum and directed by Joe and Anthony Russo (Captain America: The Winter Solider and the upcoming Captain America: Civil War).
Deadline reports. This and Feig's new 2016 Ghostbusters film fall under Sony's new production company Ghostcorps whose members include original Ghostbusters creators Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd. Their mission is to make new branding opportunities from the original 1984 comedy.
Drew Pierce, the writer behind Iron Man 3 and the upcoming Mission: Impossible 5, pens the screenplay, while Tatum, in addition to starring, produces with Reid Carolin and Peter Kiernan. Pearce was the man who brought Tatum, his team, the Russos and Reitman together, according to reports.
It appears these films are just the tip of the ice-berg on new Ghostbusters properties, which may also include TV shows and more down the line. Whether audiences really crave this much Ghostbusters is up for debate, but that's does not stop Sony from moving full speed ahead on these projects. Feig's movies films this June, but there's no word on when the Russo brothers plan to shoot this. Likely after their done with their work on Marvel's Captain America sequel, set to hit theaters on May 6, 2016 and start production this spring.
However, the Russos directing Avengers: Infinity Wars Part 1 and 2, is apparently not off the table, these reports suggest. This is to say, this new Ghostbusters film is a couple years down the line, at least. With experience in comedy and now action, however, the Russos are a fine fit for this new film.
This big news also confirms what the Russos' recent three-year first-look deal with Sony was not actually about them at work on the new Spider-Man movie, as some people speculated. How they could go from making Captain America: Civil War for 2016 and then this new Spider-Man movie for 2017 didn't cross some people's minds.
Plans for this extended universe apparently have been in the works for some time now. In some of the leaked Sony e-mails this December, it was revealed Tatum wanted him and Chris Pratt to star in a new Ghostbusters movie. These e-mails were before Feig's Ghostbusters was formed, but that doesn't mean Sony won't try to call Pratt's people in the near future.
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