A third Ghostbusters film has finally emerged from years of meandering a creative maze not as a continuation to the original films, but as a reboot featuring an all female cast.
Sony has officially announced that director Paul Feig will work with writer Katie Dippold to reboot Ghostbusters for a new generation rather than attempt to let the remaining old cast member hand over the reigns to a young group of Ghostbusters. Work on the film is likely already underway.
Sony’s original plan was for Ivan Reitman, director of Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II, to return and helm Ghostbusters III. Years of creative uncertainty, combined with Bill Murray’s insistence on wanting nothing to do with the project and ultimately the passing of Harold Ramis this past February, led Reitman to drop out of the project entirely.
With three of the four original Ghostbusters off the table, Feig’s pitch for an all-female group was the direction Sony ultimately chose to mine the valuable franchise and resurrect it.
Feig announced the news on Twitter saying the film will star “hilarious women.” Cries for Melissa McCarthy to not be on the team are already ringing loudly across the Internet in lieu of her deep connection to both Feig and Dippold.
It's official. I'm making a new Ghostbusters & writing it with @katiedippold & yes, it will star hilarious women. That's who I'm gonna call.
— Paul Feig (@paulfeig) October 8, 2014
Dippold wrote The Heat starring McCarthy and Sandra Bullock, and is also penning the sequel. Feig recently worked with McCarthy on Spy, a film he wrote and directed for release in 2015, and directed her in Bridesmaids.
The estimated release year for the untitled Ghostbusters reboot is 2016.
