Perhaps fittingly for a franchise about unusually active spirits, it’s been exceedingly difficult to keep track of what’s alive and what’s dead in Sony’s oft-shifting blueprint for the Ghostbusters universe. Paul Feig has been shooting an all-female reboot in Boston, but rumors have swirled throughout this year about other projects, including a Russo Brothers-directed movie starring Chris Pratt and Channing Tatum. Then, Pratt went on-record to shut down those reports, seemingly putting an end to talk of the project.
Today, though, it appears that Pratt was simply playing things close to the vest. Speaking with MTV, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation co-writer Drew Pearce revealed that the all-male Ghostbusters reboot is very much alive, and that he’s been busily writing it, ready to pass it off to the Russo Brothers and producer Ivan Reitman. And what’s more, he’s been writing it with two very familiar leading men in mind. Asked if Pratt or Tatum were in the mix still, Pearce said:
“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.”
Pressed for details about what his script will entail, Pearce played coy:
“Obviously it’s top secret, but there’s a gigantic bold idea that I came up with, and the Russo brothers — who did ’Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ and are doing ’Civil War’ at the moment — 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!”
Pearce also confirmed that his movie is going to operate within the same universe as Feig’s all-female Ghostbusters reboot, with the plan being to introduce both sets of characters before bringing them together for an Avengers-style teamup movie. He explained:
“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 would seem that Pratt, that devil, was just ramping up to surprise us – unless Sony has truly been developing this without his involvement, with intentions to slide it across his desk once Pearce’s script was done. Either way, it’s exciting to hear that the Ghostbusters universe is getting that much bigger.