We probably won’t be seeing a sequel to 2016’s Ghostbusters reboot anytime soon, but director Paul Feig is willing to settle for a crossover. This summer, the highly anticipated movie Ghostbusters: Afterlife will be hitting theaters, bringing the franchise back to the big screen after a four year absence. As most of us know, the movie serves as a direct sequel to the original Ghostbusters and its 1989 sequel, completely ignoring the 2016 reboot. More than likely, this also spells the end of Feig’s Ghostbusters canon, though the director is still holding out hope for seeing the reboot’s characters return in a crossover movie.
Speaking at the Television Critics Association panel for Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, Feig had this to say about the concept of seeing Abby, Erin, Patty, and Jillian once again, possible even in a crossover with Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
“I hope… What’s so great, in the comic book world, they’ve done a lot of crossover ones where there’s like an interdimensional rip and our team joins up with the original Ghostbusters. So the fact that that’s already been laid and made comic book canon, anything could happen so who knows. I would love to see that team come back. We had so much fun making that movie, for whatever controversy it caused.”
The comic book crossover Paul Feig is referring to was released by IDW Publishing in 2017. Called Ghostbusters 101, the six-part series featured the team of Ghostbusters from the 1984 original partnering with the ladies from the reboot when their universes are inadvertently merged together. This does set the precedent for crossing over the multiple universes in the Ghostbusters franchise, the concept of which has become a bit of a trend in movies and television in recent years. The question is whether fans would actually want to see the potential crossover actually happen on the big screen, but if not, more comic books or animated movies are also possibilities.
Feig’s Ghostbusters starred Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon. Though it shared no connection in terms of storyline to the original Ghostbusters, it did feature Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and Dan Aykroyd in cameo appearances as new characters. Even before the movie’s release, it was met with very harsh criticism from many fans of the franchise and essentially boycotted by millions before its premiere. This led to the reboot underperforming at the box office and freezing any possibilities the movie may have had for its own direct sequel.
For what it’s worth, Ghostbusters fans seem to be a bit more excited about Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Though primarily following a new cast of characters, the movie will feature several original stars returning to reprise their roles. One of the biggest complaints expressed over Feig’s version was that it tossed the original continuity aside, so setting Afterlife in the same universe puts the sequel off to a good start. Before we start talking about any other potential sequels or crossover movies, let’s see how Afterlife turns out. The movie will be released in theaters on July 10, 2020. This news comes to us from /Film.
