Since the Sony e-mail leak last fall, the rumors of a Channing Tatum / Chris Pratt Ghostbusters film have been fairly persistant. Joe and Anthony Russo have been rumored to direct the film, potentially between directing Captain America: Civil War and The Avengers: Infinity War – Parts 1 and 2. With Captain America wrapping sometime soon for a May 2016 release, and Avengers 3 and 4 to shoot back to back starting in Fall or Winter of 2016, it could give them some time to shoot a Ghostbusters film. Ghostbusters is decidedly a much smaller film to shoot, but I wouldn’t want them to rush a shoot during the summer of 2016, if that’s when they were planning to make it happen. While the original Ghostbusters was greenlit in the middle of 1983 for a June 1984 release, giving them somewhere around 12 months to finish the script, cast, shoot, edit and release, Avengers probably deserves all of their attention.

Drew Pearce (Iron Man 3) has been making the rounds during press for Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, and was asked directly about the Ghostbusters film by MTV. “I’ve finished my work on that in the last couple weeks. Obviously it’s top secret, but there’s a gigantic bold idea that I came up with, and the Russo brothers and Ivan Reitman, who did the original movie, are going to take that and run with it. Obviously I cannot tell you what it is, but hopefully in one year’s time you’ll know!”

He was asked about Chris Pratt and Channing Tatum, responding: “That’s definitely the cast we’ve been thinking about as we approach the project. Whether that happens or not is very much above my pay grade. It’s just my job to give them something exciting that maybe they’ll do.”

But will it share the same universe with Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters? “My personal inclination is to try and make everything occur in the same Ghostbusters universe, because I feel, as a fan, that’s what I would want. Standing here in New York, you just wanna tie it all together. Whether that happens or not we’ll see, but I’ve certainly given them the tools to do that, I hope.”

It’s not actually a script that Pearce wrote, though, as he clarified on Twitter:

Also, I’ve only written a bible (because I have to go off and direct my own stuff). No script yet. So news cycle: CHILL YOUR BOOTS.

— Drew Pearce (@mrdrewpearce) July 29, 2015

Plus, it will be a team that has both men and women (come on, Emma Stone! Join this one!).

For the record, my GB idea has a mixed gender team. Also ghosts of all classes (I to VII). It’s very inclusive that way. — Drew Pearce (@mrdrewpearce) July 29, 2015

In another interview, this one from Nerd Report, Pearce stated that he’s left his ideas with the Russo brothers, Tatum and their team: “I’m further away,” Pearce said. “It wasn’t like when I do my Marvel stuff where I’m right there at the nexus with Kevin [Feige] and the gang. The Ghostbusters one is bigger and there’s a lot more elements in play. Every movie’s different. It’s one where I came in, went ‘Here is my idea. Here is how I would extrapolate it. You guys go crazy and see where you go with it’ which was a bit like [Mission: Impossible]. My work on Ghostbusters is done. I’ve handed over a story bible.”

One wrench in the plan: Ivan Reitman has provided a quote to Uproxx about this, saying: “There has been a lot of excitement recently about what is happening with the Ghostbusters franchise. As the producer of the new Ghostbusters film, I feel the need to clarify. There is only one new Ghostbusters movie and that is the Paul Feig directed version coming next July, presently filming and going fantastically. The rest is just noise.”

That said, it doesn’t really deny anything that Pearce has said. So far, there is no script for the Russo brothers Ghostbusters film, so what he said was technically true. Plus, Sony’s spending $150 million on the next Ghostbusters film, so they want that to be a big hit before they announce more. I’ve heard that there will likely be a trilogy with the Feig Ghostbusters, but there’s room for more than one style of GB film going on at the same time (especially if they share a universe). Afterall, Star Wars is going to have Saga films and Anthology films released in the same way.

I’m all for a mixed-gender Ghostbusters team also hitting the big screen. May I suggest the cast include Bill Hader and Emma Stone? As I mentioned in the article above, Emma Stone is someone I’d love to see as a Ghostbuster, and Bill Hader could make a great Louis Tully type of character, or a member of the team.

What are your thoughts?

Chris Pratt had this to say:

I ain’t fraid’a no goats

A photo posted by chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) on Jul 30, 2015 at 8:52am PDT

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Left to right are Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon. Their characters’ names are Patty Tolan, Abby Yates, Erin Gilbert and Jillian Holtzmann. Of the four of them, McKinnon’s Jillian has the most unique look.

The movie will also star Chris Hemsworth (Thor) as “Kevin,” who will be the Janine of the film. Playing the mayor of New York will be Andy Garcia (Ocean’s Eleven), Michael Kenneth Williams (The Wire, Boardwalk Empire), Mark Berzenski and Neil Casey.

Directed by Paul Feig (Freaks and Geeks), it will release on July 22, 2016.

As for me, I’ll be reporting about this movie here on Legendarium. Ghostbusters is one of my all time favorite movies, I have a huge collection of memorabilia and I’ve probably seen the first two movies more times than I’d like to admit. I’m also a pretty big fan of The Real Ghostbusters animated series and the comics that were published by IDW.

There have been many teams that included women as Ghostbusters. I’m not against a team including women. All women, I think, is too far. I know the original films were teams of all men, but the comics and animated series Extreme Ghostbusters changed all of that, and it wasn’t a big deal. The reason I have a problem with an all woman team is because boys should have at least one character busting ghosts that they can be when playing. Sure, they can watch the original, but this is the team of today.

Here’s what makes me the most excited about the future of Ghostbusters, though: Ghost Corps. It’s a part of Sony Pictures that is tasked with making more Ghostbusters films. In fact, creating a cinematic universe, with a (shot down) rumor that Chris Pratt was to co-star in the first film out of that division. We’ll see how things move forward.

The post First Photo of Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters has been revealed! appeared first on The Fantasy Network News.

As a fan of all things Ghostbusters, I had been upset with the direction that the new movie was taking. I’m not against the idea of women being Ghostbusters at all, rather an entire team composed of women exclusively. I’d have been fine with any combination of men and women on the team, as has happened in the comics and cartoons over the years. I have been hoping for a Ghostbusters 3 since the credits rolled on Ghostbusters 2 when I saw it on the big screen as a kid. I’m never really against getting a sequel to a great movie, because if it’s great there’s more to love. If it’s awful, it’s easily ignored. I also own more Ghostbusters collectibles than anyone probably should.

Now I have reason to hope. After Sony made their deal with Disney’s Marvel Studios to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they were left with a load of release dates from cancelled Spider-Man related projects. Everything from The Amazing Spider-Man 3 to Venom to The Sinister Six, as well as a potential Black Cat movie (or another female lead Spider-Man spin-off) and a potential Aunt May film that sounded kind of like Agent Carter.

Sony took a good look at the properties they had in development, and decided that they’d finally attempt to create something they can legitimately call their own, without fear of losing it to another studio.

They’ve created a studio called Ghost Corps, which features original Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd and Ghostbusters 1 & 2 director Ivan Reitman. Their goal is to bring Ghostbusters to a larger scale, with a larger cinematic universe, television and merchandising. And it all starts with Paul Feig’s movie.

After that, there’s a possible male-lead Ghostbusters film that is rumored to star Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt (and I personally hope that Bill Hader and Emma Stone join that team). That film could be directed by the Russo’s (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War), and would probably be shot during the summer of 2016.

The next film would be an Avengers style team up, to take on a larger supernatural threat. And I’ve also read that a fourth film would possibly be a prequel to all of these movies. This prequel likely would not include the surviving original Ghostbusters, because of the red tape due to the rights to the characters. However, seeing as Aykroyd and Reitman are involved, I wouldn’t count that possibility out entirely.

There is also the possibility of the return of the comics, hopefully with the return of the same creative team behind the IDW line that was so excellent. It also could mean another animated series, which is something else that I’m really excited about (and another reason why I question that the use of the characters from the original movie could be much of a rights issue).

tl;dr: Sony Pictures created a production company called Ghost Corps. Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd are part of that company. They’re creating a Ghostbusters Cinematic Universe starting with Paul Feig’s movie. A second movie could be directed by the Russo’s starring Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt, with a third film being a team-up, and a fourth being a prequel. Ghost Corps is also creating other outlets for the brand including TV and merchandise.

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