Future Ghostbusters Movies Teased, Including New Animated Film

Last years's reboot of the comedy classic Ghostbusters wasn't the success that many expected it to be, and we're very unlikely to see a direct sequel. But that doesn't mean that the franchise is dead. Producer Ivan Reitman was at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend and spoke about plans for a new animated movie.

Reitman, who also directed the original film, appeared on a panel for the launch of a new series of Ghostbusters comic books. Reitman was asked about the current state of the franchise, and he revealed that the next film could focus on the ghosts themselves.

"We have wonderful plans for an animated feature that we're deep in design on already, and [it has] a really great story," he said. "That's going to surprise everybody, I think, when it comes out. We're dealing with [the] ghost world quite a lot. We're looking at the film from a ghost point-of-view, and the Ghostbusters from a ghost point-of-view. I think that would be something very interesting for you. And of course a new live-action film."

Reitman also hinted that one of the Ghostbusters projects would be released in 2019, to coincide with the original film's 35th anniversary. "We're going to try to tie one of our films close to that date," he said.

A new Ghostbusters animated show has been rumored as far back as 2015. There have also been reports of an animated show called Ghostbusters: Ecto Force.

Reitman recently admitted that a big reason for the reboot movie's failure was the size of its budget. "We certainly would've loved to have a larger hit," he said in April. "But considering the last film was almost 30 years ago, it really did extremely well. I think the film cost too much, frankly, and that's the real issue."

A virtual reality game for the PSVR called Ghostbusters: Now Hiring was released earlier this year. Reitman was heavily involved with its development, while the game's ghost was voiced by American comedian and Agents of SHIELD star Patton Oswalt.