Sony are developing two new animated Ghostbusters projects.
Ghostbusters Day, June the 8th, revealed a couple of big announcements for the franchise. With renewed interest, sparked by the success of 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the spook hunting is heading back to cartoon territory.
This comes relatively hot on the heels of confirmation that a fifth live-action film is going ahead too, building on Afterlife’s post-credits teaser. Director Jason Reitman has revealed that the next movie has the code name of “Firehouse”.
The sequel, described as “the next chapter in the Spengler family story”, should bring back Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s main cast; Mckenna Grace, Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard and Carrie Coon are all expected to reprise their roles.
The Netflix series
While details on the series are minimal so far, the announcement tells us the show will “navigate an unexplored era of the Ghostbusters Canon”.
The series is coming from Ghostbusters: Afterlife co-writers Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan. The pair will executive produce, in conjunction with Sony Pictures Animation and Ghost Corps, Inc.
The animated feature
Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan are also developing a feature-film project from a script by Brenda Hsueh too. There are few further details, save for that it promises “…all new characters and a whole new take”.
Additionally, a pair of directors are announced for the film too: Jennifer Kluska (Hotel Transylvania 2) and Chris Prynoski (Beavis And Butt-Head Do America).
Previous animated Ghostbusters shows
While primarily remembered for their big screen exploits, the Ghostbusters have enjoyed two previous animated outings.
Beginning in 1986 and running for 7 seasons, The Real Ghostbusters ran for 140 episodes. Based on the original film, the series chronicled the ongoing adventures of the movie’s four principal characters, plus their secretary Janine and ‘pet’ ghost Slimer; the ghost also gained his own 13-episode spin-off too.
Developed by Joe Medjuck and Michael C. Gross, the show boasted Babylon 5’s J. Michael Straczynski on its writing staff.
1997 saw a sequel series, Extreme Ghostbusters. Carrying over the characters of Egon, Janine and Slimer, it introduced a fresh generation of diverse college-aged heroes; the characters of Kylie Griffin, Eduardo Rivera, Garrett Miller and Roland Jackson were all Egon’s students.
Still styled as a comedy, the show had a slightly darker feel (and was even billed as “Ghostbusters Dark” in some listings). It notched up 40 episodes, airing via syndication through the now defunct Bohbot Kids Network.
Quite what new direction the new show and movie will explore remains to be seen. We’ll keep you posted when we hear more.