Regarding gore, I take your point. Though with a spin-off, you have the freedom to push the envelope a little further compared to the main chronology. I guess the point I’m making is that it opens up new opportunities and the ability to take creative risks without damaging the continuity of Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, Afterlife, and Frozen Empire.
I think you touch on a lot of beats that resonate with GB fandom and fandoms in general. Fandoms don’t like change to something they hold dear, and understandably so. But I think that’s when franchises stand still and the general movie-going public get fatigued by it.
For example, I’m sure there are sections of the fandom who would like to see Bill Murray resurrected from the grave in 50 years time just to crowbar him into another Ghostbusters movie. Personally, I don’t want the OG Ghostbusters in another Ghostbusters movie.
The point I’m making is there’s a trade-off between what fandoms want and what the wider movie-going public desires. I’m not sure a Spengler family movie is what audiences want right now, fandom aside, I feel there is an apathy towards it. That’s a broad statement, but historically, the Ghostbusters box office has a ceiling of around $200 million. So from a budget standpoint, you’ve got to factor that into your thinking when making your next live-action movie.
Which headline is going to get people talking and intrigued?
“New Spengler-family Ghostbusters movie returns to NY”
Or
“New Ghostbusters Spin-Off Is a Horror Movie Set in London.”
Three radical changes that get people talking. Plus the more different locations you have in each movie, naturally it’s going to expand the fanbase.
Anyway, I hope I don’t offend anyone. I know there are far more savvy and passionate people about Ghostbusters on this forum. But I say this because I care about the future of the franchise.
I understand what you mean. I just read Ernie Hudson said he’d like to see it grow beyond the Spengler family too. I’m completely on board for expanding it. I’ve suggested all of this before. What I’m saying is I think there needs to be a 3rd Spengler movie where things are set up.
An idea off top of my head for a different team is they’re called to another state or country to help out a group of paranormal investigators but they’re also needed back home in NY so by the end they decide to open another GB location in this new place. Over the course of the movie we’ve now been introduced to the new team and their operation. You can even use the same basic headline GB goto London or wherever.
Just picking up in a different place where I guess Winston shows up just to establish continuity would be an odd shift from FE. It’s also unfair to the Spengler’s who would now be a complete team as adults. They deserve a full movie together.
Well, you kinda saw them dabble in more ‘intense’ material like Gozer ripping the reanimated Shandor in half or Garraka freezing and smashing the cashier he thought was a Fire Master o.s.
Like any good businessman, Winston has to be thinking of franchising in the long run and putting a franchise in another state means another Engineer Corps base to study more supernatural material. Plus, it would be another bit tying back into the first movie - after the bank, Peter tells Ray and Egon those franchising rights alone will make them rich. They had multiple teams in NYC in the Hellbent drafts, they were almost going to do a Chicago franchise had there been a sequel to Ghostbusters: The Video Game, a Chicago branch was explored in the IDW run, a San Francisco branch in the Rise of the Ghost Lord. I think a 3rd movie could at least seed it like the big threat goes from city to city and over the course of the movie realize it’s a pattern it repeats leading to back to its original manifestation point so they have to leave NYC towards the end to trap it once and for all before it goes into hibernation and can’t be tracked for decades again (or whatever), they meet some people who are well versed in the lore of the entity (and the city) and help the team track it down but maybe have to deal with the politics of trying to operate in a different city. Catch it. End credits. End tag of these new characters in Winston’s office. He asks them if they ever considered starting a business in their city. Then idk, spin them off to a streaming series like 4 episodes or the equivalent to a direct-to-video movie on streaming instead of theatrical.
And/or they can do what canons like IDW or Hellbent or Sanctum of Slime did and formalize NYC having multiple teams with the Spengler family as the senior team. But of course to support that, NYC would need to get pretty infested with ghosts i.e. like the premiere of Extreme Ghostbusters, disturbing that ‘prison’ led to a new spike in paranormal activity because in most cases, clearing out the big bad leads to a dearth in activity. I suppose we did get that with the ghosts let out of the Containment Unit by Garraka. And technically, they have that already in the Engineer Corps. Sorta like IRL you have the police, fire fighters, paramedics performing different functions at the site of the incident. They could progressively build on that in the next movie(s).
Yeah, from the beginning, Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan pretty much said the plan was to tell the Spengler family story then hand the baton off to other directors to tell new stories. I think it’s clear they’ve been planning a trilogy to tell three stages of the Spengler family life from the POV of Phoebe as she gets older - preteen, teen, adult. It will be intriguing to see who will pick up the torch after the trilogy is done. I’m still pretty interested in what Ruben Fleischer was planning to do for a movie for instance.
Ya its easy to come up with another branch. I’ve always considered the simple fact that the paranormal can be anywhere is reason enough and so many places have folklore they can barrow from.
Ernie Hudson mentions Winston’s family. Definitely bring in the Zeddemores. The Stantz family too. Also how ghosts impact us. Whatever his ideas are I want to know. A TV series or Made-for-Streaming movie would be the perfect format for spinoffs. They can deal with a variety ghosts without needing to be theatrical hits.
I don’t have a problem with Shandor being ripped in half or the freezings. That was cool (no pun intended) it reminded me of MK’s Sub-Zero. Even the heads in GB2 were fine. I mean anything ■■■■■■ or gross wouldn’t fit. Basically keep the gore level where it’s been.
Agreed, I really that that mention was seeding a Zeddemore child showing up in FE. There’s so much potential with that, there’s so many directions they can go but tie into the overall legacy theme we saw in AL and FE.
Yeah, knock wood, the animated projects do really well and NF would really want to expand on their partnership with Sony.
True, the impaled heads were probably the most intense it ever got. I mean, well Answer The Call had a suicide…
It’s not really more blood and gore I’d like to see. Just continue to break from the story structure GB1 and GB2 used. But show more busts, more proton streams, more investigating like the library stuff in FE. I liked the dual focus of Phoebe and Ray in FE. So I’d like the same for Winston in the next one.
Ya the straightforward ghost busting and investigation kind of feels more fun because they’re more personal encounters. They build tension and anticipation. The ghosts can be almost anything and how they interact with the environment makes it unique. There’s a lot of creative busts they could come up with.
I’ve always liked the idea of having the Ghostbusters investigate the paranormal abroad, Houska Castle in particular. Here’s a summary I came up with:
In this thrilling new chapter of the Ghostbusters saga, a team led by Callie Spengler, alongside Gary Grooberson, Lars Pinfield, and Nadeem Razmaadi, ventures to the Czech Republic to investigate paranormal disturbances at the infamous Houska Castle, rumored to be a gateway to a demonic realm. Reports of spectral entities and unexplained phenomena have escalated, prompting the team to uncover the castle’s dark secrets. Armed with advanced proton packs and experimental tech, they face malevolent spirits and an ancient force tied to the castle’s medieval origins, testing their courage and ingenuity.
Meanwhile, in New York City, Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore oversee operations at the Ghostbusters’ headquarters, mentoring Trevor and Phoebe Spengler as they tackle a surge of ghostly activity in the city. The New York team uncovers a mystical connection between the disturbances in Houska Castle and a series of supernatural events threatening Manhattan. As both teams race against time, they must combine their efforts to prevent a catastrophic breach of the paranormal veil.
I kinda liked the original idea for the Feig reboot: the Ghostbusters being a sort of secret MIB like agency working with the government.
Obviously, you can make them a secret squad but they can be working alongside the FBI or the government on a national scale case.
This way, you bring in a “new team” of agents who treat the ghosts like nothing more than annoying rats or bugs and they are forced to learn the ropes of Ghostbusting without having to start again. You keep Phoebe and Trevor in NY with Winston and send Gary, Callie, Lars and Ray abroad to work with 2 agents.
In the end, the 2 agents opens a new GB chapter in their city.