Channing Tatum Won’t Be Starring in a ‘Ghostbusters’ Movie After All
A few days ago, Channing Tatum got honest about a few things, including the status of that second Ghostbusters reboot. The Magic Mike star made it sound like the project was stuck in development, toiling away under the watchful eyes of countless Sony execs. Today, it looks like Tatum was underselling the situation. In a separate interview with his producing partner (and Magic Mike XXL co-director), Reid Carolin, it was revealed that Tatum won’t be busting any ghosts after all.
Speaking with Screenrant, Reid (who will produce Tatum’s upcoming Gambit) was refreshingly blunt about the matter. When asked about Ghostbusters, he responded with “We’re not doing that anymore,” before offering an explanation:
No I don’t think so, I think it’s too complicated. There’s a lot of things going on with that brand and I just feel like it’s over-saturated.
And he’s right. Although we like the idea of a Ghostbusters movie written by Drew Pearce and directed by Chris Miller and Phil Lord, it feels unnecessary (and more than a mean-spirited) to develop a “boy” version in the immediate wake of Paul Feig’s currently filming reboot. This decision already felt more than a little tacky – this one stars girls so we better be prepared to save the brand with a bunch of men! — and that’s before you even get into the mere concept of a Ghostbusters “shared universe,” which is just too much.
Tatum is a smart guy who tends to make good (or at least interesting) choices. Magic Mike XXL will give him all the new clout he needs to make whatever the hell he wants. Why waste that on a movie that no one seems to feel good about?