After years of trying to get a Ghostbusters sequel off the ground, Sony finally got three made in the last decade — although only one of them was an unqualified box office success. While Ghostbusters: Afterlife was a critical and commercial boon for Sony, both Ghostbusters: Answer the Call and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire left something to be desired in terms of audience reception. That won’t stop GBI from moving forward, though, according to Frozen Empire filmmaker Gil Kenan.
That’s arguably not surprising, considering that Netflix already has a new generation of Ghostbusters animated series coming. That series, by the way, is set to be overseen by Jason Reitman, the director of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, along with Kenan.
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“We definitely are continuing the conversation of telling big Ghostbuster stories on the big screen,” Kenan told The Direct. “Jason [Reitman]… we take the responsibility and the joy of being the keepers of the flame of Ghostbusters very seriously… we definitely are continuing the conversation of telling big Ghostbuster stories on the big screen. And stay tuned. There’ll be more. There’ll be more about that later.”
Reitman’s father, Ivan Reitman, was the director of the first two Ghostbusters films and a producer on all of the movies until his death in 2022. Reitman, along with Dan Aykroyd, were the true champions of the franchise for years, when Sony and the other cast members seemed more indifferent to the idea of more Ghostbusters.
Reitman took over when it was clear that Sony wanted a more “classic” take on the Ghostbusters films when Paul Feig’s Answer the Call failed to launch a new franchise. He delivered exactly that, bringing back actors, ghosts, and the car from the original franchise and introducing a new generation of Ghostbusters with a direct tie to Egon Spengler, the character played by the late Harold Ramis.
That was Afterlife, which Kenan worked on with Reitman, so when Reitman decided to pursue a different project instead of directing Frozen Empire, the pair decided that it would be Kenan’s job to carry the franchise forward. Frozen Empire was a modest hit, earning a little over $200 million against a reported $100 million budget at a time when most tentpole franchises seemed to be flailing. Still, studio accounting would tell you that movie lost money — and it also scored in the 40s on both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.
With Reitman and Kenan’s attention focused on the animated series, there is no word yet on when the next theatrical movie might enter production. It sounds like they’re still in the “looking for an idea to pitch to Sony” stage of things. Keep an eye on ComicBook for more as the project develops.
