News: Sony Announces Ghost Corps and Ghostbusters Franchise Films

Sony is not only doubling down, but tripling down, on its Ghostbusters franchise. They currently have Paul Feig’s reboot of the franchise, featuring Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones donning the iconic jumpsuits. Earlier this year, the studio then doubled-down on the property, by announcing that a “counterpart” film would return to an all-male cast, directed by the Russo Brothers, and furthermore, would be the first project in a new subsidiary of Sony labeled Ghost Corps, to be headed up by Reitman and Dan Aykroyd.

Now they are announcing a Ghostbusters animated film, which is being produced by Tom Pollock and Ivan Reitman through their Montecito Picture Company, with Ali Bell and Kristine Belson overseeing for Sony Pictures Animation.

The animated action-comedy will follow a similar logline to that of the 1984 original, in which a group of scientists team up to fight off ghosts, using gadgets and gizmos to capture the menacing ghouls who have invaded Manhattan.

The upcoming live-action female-lead Ghostbusters reboot will have Sigourney Weaver, Ernie Hudson, and Bill Murray make cameos in Feig’s film, making fans of the original films happy. An animated feature, however, could target a younger demographic.

With the announcement of Ghost Corps and the Russo brothers’ all-male version, Rothman himself said, “It’s just the beginning of what I hope will be a lot of wonderful movies.”

Ghost Corps builds upon a trend that’s been spreading in Hollywood, with studios pumping more resources into their biggest tentpoles and launching them on multiple platforms and in various formats–essentially creating entire mini-studios around single properties.

Source: The Tracking Board