A lot has happened in the Ghostbusters world the last 24 hours. Sony has announced that Jason Reitman will write and direct a direct sequel to Ghostbusters that's set for release in 2020. If that last name rings a bell but you aren't sure how, Jason Reitman is the son of the great director Ivan Reitman and director in his own right (Thank You For Smoking, Juno, Up In The Air). Reitman has also been known to judge a Roast Battle here and there. But we digress, the story goes that Jason approached his father and director of the original two Ghostbusters films to talk about making a direct sequel to those first two films which starred some of the biggest comedians of the 80s. Reitman wanted to make a film to fill in the decades between then and now for the OG Ghostbusters - Peter, Ray, Egon (R.I.P), and Winston.
“I’ve always thought of myself as the first Ghostbusters fan,” Reitman told EW. “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.”
Most details are non-existent and there's no mention roles (if any) original cast members like Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis, or Sigourney Weaver will play in the 2020 movie Update: Ernie Hudson said the entire cast is on board. Though a few years back, Aykroyd stated he had already written the script for a 3rd film and was trying to convince Murray and Ramis to get on board, that would never be, Ramis passed a bit afterward and an all-female reboot was announced as well.
Awesomest of all of this, there is already a teaser clip that dropped today. In it, we catch a glimpse of a rusted out Ecto-1 which has seen better days as a camera zooms in on an old barn. If you listen closely and watch the flashes in said barn you'll hear some classic Ghostbusters music as someone ratchets away on a proton pack and manages to fire it up by the end of the teaser. Is it a former Ghostbuster coming back online? Or is it a fan of the gang wanting to pick up the mantle? Let the speculation begin.
What this does is take the 2016 Paul Feig/Melissa McCarthey film and retcons it from the timeline (was it there to begin with?). "I have so much respect for what Paul [Feig] created with those brilliant actresses,” Reitman explained, “and would love to see more stories from them. However, this new movie will follow the trajectory of the original film." A diplomatic way to subvert what's going to be a lot of questions about that topic.