Caffeinated Clint
The recently-announced “Ghostbusters” threequel, directed by Jason Reitman (of “Juno” fame), isn’t even here yet (it’s still just over a year away) and already folks are hammering GhostCorps for information on what’s next. Thankfully, spite shepherd Dan Aykroyd loves to talk – and he particularly loves to talk about the franchise that just keeps on, er, sliming… so we’ve a fairly good idea as to what to expect after the digital print of Summer 2020’s “Ghostbusters” cools.
Untitled Animated Ghostbusters Project
Likely to go next, if only because it’s further along in development, is a new animated “Ghostbusters” project that – like Reitman’s film – is set in the world of Ivan Reitman’s original films, as opposed to the Paul Feig-directed reboot from a couple of years back. Furthermore, it’s expected to feature the voices of the original cast- most notably Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson – as de-aged versions of themselves return to the big screen to do battle comic-book-style. Expect something of the same ilk as the rather impressive “Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse”.
Producer Ivan Reitman, who helmed the first two films in the long-spanning series, is spearheading the project. Work reportedly started on the animated film shortly after Feig’s reboot (2016), and at the time it was proposed as a 2019 or 2020 release – but with a new live-action “Ghostbusters” now hitting theaters next year, I’d say this one will be reserved for 2021 at the earliest.
Ghostbusters High
After that, Aykroyd confirmed in an interview a couple of days back, could be a new TV series that serves as a prequel to the 1984 film. “Ghostbusters High”, based on a script written by Stanz-himself, sees the original crew back in high-school – – in other words, their weekly adventures will likely focus more on science experiments and winning over girls (at least in Venkman’s case) than busting ghosts and dashing from demon dogs. Sounds like “Stranger Things” may have played muse to Aykroyd here.
“they meet in New Jersey in 1969”, Aykroyd says of the script, which he said could be a “glorified feature or pilot within the next maybe five years…. And it would lead to a television project. It’s on [Jason Reitman’s] desk but that’s years away from the current project. But it’s a neat idea for a prequel. Imagine casting the three characters as teenagers!”
So, clearly, Aykroyd’s quite happy with whatever Reitman Jr is doing with the new “Ghostbusters” film and has given him a company car park.
But first,
Ghostbusters (2020)
we’ve, of course, the very exciting threequel, starring Finn Wolfhard of ”Stranger Things”, releasing summer 2020. This one, as opposed to the Feig film, is set in the same ‘verse as the originals, so I’d say it’s a given we can expect cameos – in the least – from the original crew, even Bill Murray has mentioned he’d be up for it.
Here’s the teaser for that one.
