There’s been a lot of discussion about Paul Feig’s all-female Ghostbusters. Depending on which side of the debate you’re on, you either think it’s a wonderfully progressive move, featuring some of the funniest ladies in comedy*, or you think it’s a slap in the face of the the original cast and you personally that they let the franchise be over-run with cooties.
Can you tell I’m in the first camp?
Many people who feel that it’s about time for a female-led movie like this were distressed to hear that Sony is also working on a second Ghostbusters film, one that’s got a little more testosterone in it to take precedence. Though Badass Digest reports that “First of all, this new Ghostbusters movie isn’t all-male. It isn’t ‘guy-centric.’ I spoke to three different people who were baffled as to where that came from.” And many people who hate the idea of girls in their Ghostbusters were overjoyed to hear that there’s going to be a movie they can call the “real” one**. Fortunately, both groups are wrong.
The newly announced movie will be connected to Feig’s film. According to Badass Digest, the end of one will lead into the other. Then the two teams will meet and work together in a third film, followed by a prequel (but it’s unknown how far back that will be set). Hey, remember how the initial plan for the original film was to have GB franchises? You might want to keep that in mind going forward.
So, everyone wins. There will be a film by Paul Feig and Katie Dippold (the director and writer of The Heat, respectively) with Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon. There will also be a film directed by the Russo brothers (Captain America 2, Community), written by Drew Pearce (Iron Man Three) and likely starring Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt.
This is great news that doesn’t diminish either film, but adds to both. So can we please just calm down a little?
* – funniest people in general, really
** – See what I did there?
