Jason Reitman To Direct New ‘Ghostbusters’ Movie, A Sequel To 1989’s ‘Ghostbusters 2’
If you’re looking for someone to direct a newGhostbustersmovie, who ya gonna call? If you’re Sony, the answer isJason Reitman– he’s been hired to tackle a secretGhostbustersfilm that’s being described as a sequel to the 1989 movieGhostbusters 2and reportedly will not be connected to the all-femaleGhostbusters: Answer the Callthat was released in 2016.
Varietyreports that Sony has officially hiredJason Reitman, the filmmaker behind movies likeJuno,Up in the Air,Thank You For Smoking,Young Adult, and last year’sTullyandThe Front Runner, to direct a new movie that’s aiming for asummer 2020release date. Reitman is also the son ofIvan Reitman, the man who directed the original 1984 classicGhostbustersand its direct sequel.
Jason Reitman has been secretly developing the project for the past few months and working out of the Ghost Corps offices on the Sony lot, which are designed to look like the famous firehouse that served as the Ghostbusters' headquarters in the original movie.
This new movie, which the younger Reitman co-wrote withGil Kenan(the director ofMonster House, which /Film’s Peter Sciretta loves), is said to “be a continuation” ofGhostbusters 2. That leads to the obvious question: willBill Murray, Dan Aykroyd,andErnie Hudsonreturn to reprise the roles they made famous in the ’80s and ’90s? (Harold Ramis, who played the fourth Ghostbuster, Dr. Egon Spengler, died in 2014.) It’s unclear if the original stars will be back, though it’s unlikely that Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, or Leslie Jones will appear since this movie appears to be completely ignoring the existence ofGhostbusters: Answer the Call.
No plot details for this new entry have been revealed yet, but a report from The Hollywood Reporter’sBorys Kitsays the main characters will be four teenagers: two boys and two girls. I’m not sure of the timeline here, but that detail instantly makes me think about theStranger Thingsepisode where the kids suit up as the Ghostbusters for Halloween, so I wonder if that had anything to do with how this idea came together. Also, the fact that the lead characters are teenagers aligns well with Monster House, an animated movie about a group of kids who discover that their neighbor’s house is a living, breathing monster.
“This is very early, and I want the film to unwrap like a present. We have a lot of wonderful surprises and new characters for the audience to meet,” Reitman told EW.
Ivan Reitman’s production company Montecito Pictures is producing this movie.
“It will be a passing of the torch both inside and out,” Ivan said. “It was a decision he had to come to himself. He worked really hard to be independent and developed a wonderful career on his own. So I was quite surprised when he came to me with Gil and said, ‘I know I’ve been saying for 10 years I’m the last person who should make aGhostbustersmovie, but…I have this idea.’ Literally, I was crying by the end of it, it was so emotional and funny.”
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Jason Reitmanappeared on The /Filmcast back in 2013and was asked about directing aGhostbustersmovie one day. You can listen to the full episode, but here’s his response:
“At the end of the day, when people always ask me about directing a Ghostbusters movie, I think the line kind of holds true for any genre film: If I directed a Ghostbusters film, there would be no busting. It would just be like, people talking about ghosts. If I did the Avengers, there would be no action, it would just be the Avengers talking.”
Reitman appeared in front of the camera as Brownstone Boy #2 inGhostbusters 2, and interestingly, this technically won’t be the first time he’s directed somethingGhostbusters-related: in 2012,he directed a Live Read of the original scriptwithSeth Rogen, Jack Black,andRainn Wilsonas Venkman, Stanz and Spengler, respectively.
