Ghostbusters Reboot To Expand Merchandising Demographic, Add Girl-Centric Product Categories

With a female-led reboot on the horizon, Ghostbusters is unsurprisingly planned not only for a massive licensing and merchandising push, according to Global Licensing! Magazine, but for the push to be somewhta different, expanding the traditional Ghostbusters audience and trying to bring the merch more to women.

"While [casting females] has caused some controversy in the fan world, I think it will make the movie even more appealing," said Sony's Greg Economos, senior vice president, global consumer products. "Had we just done a reboot with four male characters, we probably would have had even more criticism, because how can you really duplicate those four incredible actors from 30 years ago?"

"The female cast allows us to actually expand the demographics of who we think will buy product," adds Economos. "Ghostbusters is a big role-play brand, and whether the leads are male or female, 8-year-old boys are still going to want to capture ghosts. Having female leads includes girls in that too."

The film is set to be in theaters next July.