It’s safe to say that last year’s Ghostbusters reboot/remake/reimagining didn’t exactly set the world on fire. Opinions vary as to the reason for its relative failure, with many arguments being made that the innate misogyny of mainstream audiences kept people away from a female-led blockbuster. My theory is the film simply wasn’t very good and squandered the talents of its impressive cast.
With Dan Ackroyd recently telling us about a studio/director clash as a result of extensive and costly reshoots, it’s doubtful that Ghostbusters is going to materialize back on screens anytime soon. But what if it were to return? That’s what the original film’s director, Ivan Reitman (who’s also planning an animated Ghostbusters feature), explored in a Facebook Live Q&A (along with Ernie Hudson) that was held to mark the annual Ghostbusters Day.
Chief amongst what he wants to see is the knitting together of the stories and characters of the original two films with that of the new ones:
“I think one thing that fans have clearly wanted, and so did I, that somehow we tie the worlds together. I think it was a little awkward that it wasn’t connected, and we certainly heard a lot from everybody out there.”
I agree – not explicitly acknowledging the past hurt the movie, especially given the bizarre decision to have some of the original cast appearing in cameos as completely different characters.
Reitman also outlines a ‘Ghostbusters World’ scenario:
“[The] idea doesn’t have to just take place in New York, it can happen over the world. I think it would be really cool to see Korean ghosts or Chinese ghosts. All those great traditions in the world have all these tales and things those people are afraid of. To have a sort of local group of Ghostbusters that tie with the head office in New York would be fun.”
They’re neat ideas, albeit ones that the committed Ghostbusters fan community has been exploring for some time. A film bringing back Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore (though sadly not Egon Spengler) would definitely get me buying a ticket. That said, I wouldn’t like to be the guy who had to convince the notoriously skeptical Bill Murray to don the proton pack for another full feature.
