Another New 'Ghostbusters' Movie Is Coming, But This One Is Going Back To 1984

If at first, you don't succeed, reboot, reboot again. That seems to be Hollywood's motto anyway. The Golden Compass movie failed? Reboot it as a TV series on HBO. Godzilla didn't fly when it was rebooted? Bring it back again in 2019. And let's not get into how many Spider-Men (Spiders-Man?) there have been in the last 10 years. With this kind of attitude, it's not surprising in the slightest another new Ghostbusters movie is coming, and this one is pretending the 2016 film never happened.

This is super tragic, because the 2016 remake was seriously funny. Not only that, but it introduced the world to Chris Hemsworth's comedy chops, and I believe it was a direct influence on the tone Thor: Ragnarok took the following year.

But no, sadly the all-female Ghostbusters failed at the box office, so now a new one is planning to come along, which will reboot the franchise "directly from the 1984 version." This is a polite way of saying it ignores the 2016 version. It's probably also proof that no one really remembers 1989's Ghostbusters 2. Or perhaps the new film would also like to forget Bobby Brown's terrible theme song?

According to Entertainment Weekly, which broke the news:

Jason Reitman will direct and co-write an upcoming film set in the world that was saved decades previously by the proton pack-wearing working stiffs in the original 1984 movie, which was directed by his father, Ivan Reitman.

Reitman's statement hurried to make sure everyone understood this is not a reboot. No one is getting recast, it's just a continuation of the film's story 35 years down the line.

I’ve always thought of myself as the first Ghostbusters fan, when I was a 6-year-old visiting the set. I wanted to make a movie for all the other fans. This is the next chapter in the original franchise. It is not a reboot. What happened in the ‘80s happened in the ‘80s, and this is set in the present day.

Perhaps aware of how contentious it is for the series to skip over the 2016 reboot, Reitman made sure to praise Paul Feig's version.

I have so much respect for what Paul created with those brilliant actresses, and would love to see more stories from them. However, this new movie will follow the trajectory of the original film... The Ghostbusters universe is big enough to hold a lot of different stories.

At this point, there's no word on the script, or who may be starring in it, though rumors were rife this will be a teen-centric film, with the producers looking to bring aboard two boys and two girls for a gender-balanced cast.

As for the original living Ghostbusters, there's no telling yet if they will sign on for cameos in another installment. Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Bill Murray were all good sports about making appearances in the 2016 film. (Harold Ramis passed away in 2014.)

Sony currently has the new Ghostbusters planned for a "Summer 2020" release.