In case you are not aware, Ghostbusters is returning to theaters in 2016, but the cast will be all female. Like the original 1984 film, it will feature Saturday Night Live Alumni with Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, as well as Melissa McCarthy, who has hosted SNL a few times. There has been a new development in the Ghostbusters franchise as there is talk of an all-male Ghostbusters film called Ghostcorps, and it might include the one and only Channing Tatum.
Ghostcorps is an idea that comes directly from Dan Aykroyd, writer and star of Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II, along with Ivan Reitman, the director of the original two films. According to ABC News, Reitman has stated that he wants to "expand the Ghostbusters universe in ways that will include different films, TV shows, merchandise, and all things that are part of modern filmed entertainment".
The plan is to introduce Ghostcorps after the 2016 Ghostbusters, and it will apparently build on the all-female film that will be directed by Paul Feig. Yahoo Movies reports that Joe and Anthony Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) will produce, Drew Pearce (Iron Man 3) will write, and Channing Tatum will star in it as one of the Ghostbusters (or Ghostcorps) team.
Apparently, Aykroyd and Reitman have been planning a "cosmic bible for the possibilities that they hatched 30 years ago". Considering that we are now living in a Marvel age of serialized cinema where movies are tied into other movies, it is no surprise to see Ghostbusters getting this treatment.
Like most people who lived in the eighties, Ghostbusters is a landmark of a film that had many possibilities for sequels. The 1989 release of Ghostbusters II didn't really carry on that legacy very well, even though it was, for the most part, a decent film. The animated series in the eighties known as The Real Ghostbusters (because it was competing with a Filmation animated series of the same name) helped keep that legacy alive, and Extreme Ghostbusters (another animated series) kept the franchise name alive in the nineties. However, Ghostbusters kind of faded into obscurity in the 2000's, so it is interesting to see it come back with a bigger plan behind it as well.
The official imdb page on the 2016 Ghostbusters film does not have a plot synopsis, so I can't help but wonder if the all-female Ghostbusters film is a reboot of some kind. I would imagine that the 2016 all-female Ghostbusters will have their big supernatural case like their 1984 counterparts, but how will Ghostcorps fit in? Will the all-male Ghostcorps be a competing ghost-fighting group? If Dan Aykroyd is involved in Ghostcorps, then I really hope that both films tie in the original two films which really established a supernatural comic universe of infinite possibilities.
Whatever the case, I can only hope that whatever magic that made Ghostbusters great back in the eighties will be preserved. The idea of making two versions with Ghostbusters and Ghostcorps makes it harder to figure out "who ya gonna call".
