'Ghostbusters' Go International? Ivan Reitman Says He's Thinking 'Franchise Rights'
Last Thursday was “Ghostbusters Day,” an “official” holiday to celebrate all things Slimer, Stay Puft, and supernatural. To celebrate, original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman and co-star Ernie Hudson stopped by Super News Live for a half-hour Facebook Live chat. And during that conversation, the filmmaker — who’s previously said he’s working on an animated feature — dropped some hints about where he’d like to take the franchise in the wake of last year’s Paul Feig-helmed reboot-cum-sequel starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones.
During the on-camera chat (watch it above), Reitman mentions there’s no reason the Ghostbusters series needs to be confined to New York — and, in fact, he thinks it would be great to set an upcoming adventure in an international locale:
“What we’ve been doing a lot of is thinking about the franchise rights for Ghostbusters. Because Ghostbusters, that 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 historical stories, all these tales of things that those people are afraid of. To have a sort of local group of Ghostbusters that maybe tie in with head office in New York would be fun.”
While Reitman’s use of the term “franchise rights” makes Ghostbusters sound like more of a business proposition than an ongoing creative property, he’s also thinking about crossover opportunities between his original and Feig’s update:
“We’re doing a lot of work about where do we go next with Ghostbusters. I think one thing that fans have clearly wanted, and so did I, is that somehow we tie the worlds together. That the historical films, the ones that I originally directed back in the ‘80s, were mixed with the film that Paul Feig just did and that world. I think it was a little awkward that it wasn’t connected, and we certainly heard a lot from everybody out there. So I would definitely want to connect to all of that.”
That’ll no doubt be music to the ears of Dan Aykroyd, who recently blasted Feig for not listening to Sony about reshoots (which he claimed cost $30-$40 million, a figure Sony refuted), and for not including the original cast in enough of its horror-comedy action. While Reitman doesn’t address either of those topics head-on in this video, he does have plenty to say about his own dreamed-about plans for Ghostbusters (including his desire to make a musical based on his movies, if the opportunity should arise); to hear the entire conversation, play the clip above.
Watch Paul Feig Suggest New Setting For ‘Ghostbusters’ Sequel:
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