We all know what the definition of insanity is, but could Ghostbusters: Afterlife see Sony try to launch a shared universe all over again after the first attempt failed so spectacularly? Based on comments made by director Jason Reitman during the movie’s New York Comic-Con panel, the answer is dependent on how the upcoming sequel fares at the box office.
In the buildup to Paul Feig’s polarizing reboot, Dan Akroyd and Ivan Reitman founded the Ghost Corps production company, which was designed specifically to expand the Ghostbusters universe. Several projects were placed into active development, all of which found themselves abandoned when 2016’s reboot proved to be one of the most divisive blockbusters in recent memory.
Afterlife is shaping up to be another big hit for Sony, hot on the heels of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, with Reitman admitting that he’d love to see his relaunch set the stage for a number of different filmmakers to tackle ghost stories of their own.
“I can’t believe that we survived this one. I want to see Ghostbusters movies from all of my favorite directors. And we hope that this sets the table for that.”
Sony is currently in the midst of its second attempt trying to establish a shared universe built out from Spider-Man, so history has shown that another stab at growing the Ghostbusters mythos isn’t out of the question, but it’d be best to wait and see how Afterlife performs both critically and commercially before rushing too quickly into any expansion plans.
