We reported a while back (here) that a new Ghostbusters movie, picking up from Ghostbusters: Afterlife, was on the way and now it seems we might be able to expect much, much more than just one…

We knew that Afterlife had reinvigorated the Ghostbusters brand after Answer the Call, the reboot, had left a bad taste in both fans’ and studio’s mouth, but it seems that it really did great business for those in charge at Sony.

In a new interview, Sony Pictures Chairman Tom Rothman discusses the successful year they had last year with movies like Spider-man: No Way Home, Venom and Unchartered: “It wasn’t just Spider-Man; it was Ghostbusters and Venom and also Uncharted, a brand-new franchise for us,” he says.

“Ours is a fantastic model, when you win. The fact that we are one of the few companies that put that first gives us a great advantage with talent and filmmakers. We are not subservient to the larger corporate issues of service and subscribers, and onto the next. We burn the boats on every movie. Quentin Tarantino said, ‘Rothman, yeah, he’s a butts-in-seats guy’.

“I don’t know if my kids will like it on my tombstone, but I’ll take it. I’m a butts-in-seats guy. I am not knocking streaming; it’s been great for us. We’re an arms dealer to them and have made a lot of money doing it. We have great partnerships with them. But many filmmakers really value the audience connection experience in theaters, and they know we’re a company devoted to them. We’re going to make it work or die trying.

Continues after interview:

“There’s a current Wall Street obsession with streaming. The media narrative follows, and it becomes viewed as established wisdom whether or not it’s true. We finished the best year we’ve ever had at the movie company, in the midst of Covid. Our model is alive and well and thriving.”

It’s so very, very heartening to hear him say that the focus is still on the big screen, in the cinema… the place where the magic happens in a way that the living room can never replicate.

But on the success of Ghostbusters and what the future may hold for our favorite boys – and girls – in grey in particular, he says: “Just before I got here, they took a turn down a road that didn’t work out that well. But because of Jason Reitman and his relationship with Ivan [Reitman, his dad and director of Ghosbusters and Ghostbusters II], may he rest in peace, we were able to resuscitate that into a tremendous success, both theatrically and in home entertainment.”

Ooof! It sounds like he’s saying Fieg’s reboot of the franchise was a mistake and won’t be repeated, which echoes Dan Aykroyd’s comments a while back, saying Feig killed Ghostbusters (here).

We candidly interview Ghostbusters: Answer the Call director Paul Feig 

But, will we get more movies? “Yes, we will. We have plenty of franchise universes with which to operate in,” Rothman says.

But he’s keen to point out that it’s not all sequels and superheroes, adding: “There was Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood and Little Women. This summer, we’ve got Bullet Train, from David Leitch, with Brad Pitt, a pure original, R-rated rock ‘em, sock ‘em action movie for grownups. And Where the Crawdads Sing, a big bestseller with an up-and-coming actress, Daisy Edgar Jones, for women. I absolutely believe that women will come back to the box office.”

It looks like now that that damned virus is behind us, we have a lot to look forward to in the cinemas… let’s hope all the other studios feel the same way.

Source: Deadline