Ghostbusters Reboot Director Hopes for Crossover With Afterlife Universe

The 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters might have earned strong reviews from critics, but the film's disappointing box office numbers and backlash from toxic fans of the franchise led to the upcoming Ghostbusters: Afterlife abandoning the reboot's narrative, but that film's director, Paul Feig, is hoping that the nature of the series' supernatural adventures could lead to a crossover between universes. While many fans are excited that the new film serves as a direct continuation of the original two Ghostbusters films, others are disappointed at the abandonment of the reboot series' potential, with Feig's hopes potentially leading to the best of both worlds for all fans.

"I hope," Feig confirmed with /Film in regards to his reboot series finding new life. "What's so great, in the comic book world, they've done a lot of crossover ones where there's like an interdimensional rip and our team joins up with the original Ghostbusters. So the fact that that's already been laid and made comic book canon, anything could happen so who knows. I would love to see that team come back. We had so much fun making that movie, for whatever controversy it caused. The fact that so many kids love that, that we won the Nickelodeon Best Movie of the Year Award that year makes me very happy."

The 2016 reboot earned 74% positive reviews as calculated by aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, but with it earning only $229 million worldwide on a reported budget of $144 million, its financial success was far short of expectations. Interestingly, while the original two films are held in high regard, Ghostbusters 2 received much harsher reviews when it landed in theaters, earning only 53% positive reviews per Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite the division among fans of the series, the creators of the films have shown much more solidarity.

"This looks so awesome," Feig shared about the trailer for Afterlife. "Huge congrats to [director Jason Reitman] and his amazing cast and crew. I cannot WAIT to see this!"

Jason Reitman's father, Ivan, directed the original two movies and, despite some of his initial comments about his new take on the source material being for "real" fans of the franchise, went on to clarify his remarks and show support for the reboot.

"I have nothing but admiration for Paul and [stars] Leslie [Jones] and Kate [McKinnon] and Melissa [McCarthy] and Kristen [Wiig] and the bravery with which they made Ghostbusters 2016. They expanded the universe and made an amazing movie!"

Stay tuned for details on the future of the Ghostbusters franchise. Ghostbusters: Afterlife lands in theaters on July 10th.

Would you like to see this crossover happen? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!