(CBR) Dan Aykroyd, long a champion of a third “Ghostbusters,” isn”t limiting his vision to a single film. No, he”s looking well beyond that, to a revived, expanded franchise – one that might draw inspiration from other studios, including Marvel.
Such an ambitious approach might go far to explain plans for both an Ivan Reitman-produced “Ghostbusters 3” and the rumored female-led film directed by Paul Feig.
“It”s beyond just another sequel, a prequel, another TV show,” Aykroyd, franchise co-creator and star, explained to The Hollywood Reporter. “I”m thinking what does the whole brand mean to Sony? What does Pixar and “Star Wars” mean to Disney? What does Marvel mean to Fox?”
Referencing a “whole ['Ghostbusters'] mythology from the beginning of their lives, the end of their lives,” Aykroyd said he, Reitman and Sony executives are developing a broader vision for the revived franchise.
“The whole vehicle of 'Ghostbusters' has to be rebuilt. That”s the ambitious thinking that”s going on now,” he said. “Taking on the model of Marvel where we take all of the elements that are in this movie and we put them out there as different ideas.”
Marking its 30th anniversary this year, “Ghostbusters” of course already had an expanded – if not entirely interconnected – “universe,” spawning a 1989 movie sequel, two animated television series, more than a dozen video games, assorted comic books and even a prose novel.