“The franchise rights alone will make us rich beyond our wildest dreams” – Bill Murray, on Ghostbusters
Sony seems to be making good on that promise as Captain America: The Winter Soldier pair Joe and Anthony Russo are looking to direct an all-male Ghostbusters movie. This comes just as the excitement over the all-female Ghostbusting squad starring Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig has just about settled.
It is reported that it will be written by Iron Man 3 screenwriter Drew Pearce, and the team are apparently looking to grab Channing Tatum, who had previously expressed interest in being involved with the franchise.
What isn’t clear is whether this movie will take place in the same universe as the all-female version, directed by Paul Feig and written by Feig and The Heat scribe Katie Dippold, ignoring the original Ghostbusters myths, will tie in with the original movies, or it will find a way to fulfill Aykroyd’s continued insistence that he will return with Ernie Hudson in an all-oldies Ghostbuster squad. Or maybe it will exist in a separate canon altogether.
Personally, I’m pretty nonplussed as to where this one will go – though I would be lying if I said that it wouldn’t be awesome to see some kind of crossover between the two (or three if the oldies are forced back into action) teams of extra-dimensional exterminators.
However, something does irk me. It’s not the team – I enjoyed The Winter Soldier and Iron Man 3 (yes, even with Trevor), so the writing and directing are good…heck, I enjoyed Tatum’s Jump Street performance, showing his capacity for both comedy and action. It is the fact that this news came out before Feig’s film has even started production – it’s like the studio are trying to regain that male audience who turned away when they learned that the team of specter stompers would be dickless.
