Director Paul Feig returned to cinemas this weekend with the release of the Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively thriller A Simple Favor [read our review here], two years on from his female-led reboot of the 1980s classic Ghostbusters.
The film was intended as a relaunch of the Ghostbusters franchise, but a worldwide gross of just $229 million left Sony nursing a hefty loss in the region of $70 million, and all but killed off any chance of a second instalment.
Speaking to the Happy Sad Confused Podcast (via Dark Horizons) to promote A Simple Favor, Feig has offered up a few words on his now-abandoned plans for a Ghostbusters sequel, stating:
“I definitely wanted us to go to another country. Because when we were doing the press tour, the international press tour, every country the reporters would come with these drawings or artist renderings of that country’s ghosts. And every country has these really wild ghost stories and ghost characters that they scare kids with or keep people in line with. I really loved the idea of the Ghostbusters going to like Asia. Yeah, so there’s a lot of fun stuff what we could have done”
Meanwhile, in an interview with Variety, Feig has also downplayed the possibility of a sequel to his hit comedy Bridesmaids, stating that: “I don’t know if there will be one honestly. That movie worked so well because it was about a woman having a crisis in her life and fixing it. So you don’t want her to have another crisis.”
Are you disappointed that we won’t get to see Feig’s plans for an international Ghostbusters movie come to fruition? Is there any life left in the franchise at this point? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…
Thirty years after the original film took the world by storm, Ghostbusters is back and fully rebooted for a new generation. Director Paul Feig combines all the paranormal fighting elements that made the original franchise so beloved with a cast of new characters, played by the funniest actors working today. Get ready to watch them save the world this summer!
Ghostbusters saw Paul Feig (Spy) directing a cast that included Kristin Wiig (Bridesmaids), Melissa McCarthy (Spy), Leslie Jones (Saturday Night Live), Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live), Chris Hemsworth (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Andy Garcia (The Godfather: Part III), Michael K. Williams (Boardwalk Empire), Matt Walsh (Veep), Cecily Strong (Saturday Night Live), Neil Casey (Saturday Night Live) and Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), along with cameos from Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts.