ghostbusters reboot

Ghostbusters (2016) Character Posters Revealed

Hot on the heels of releasing a teaser image directly to the fans through Proton Charging, Sony tasked Time, People, InStyle, and Entertainment Weekly with posting four new individual character one-sheets today for July's Ghostbusters (2016) that are absolutely impressive to say the least. These outstanding images highlight each of the four new 'busters, and get us a nice close-up look at some of the gear for the first time as well (including what we here at the HQ assume is the new PKE Meter in the one-sheet for Leslie Jones/"Patty").

Stay tuned, hopefully hi-res versions of these to follow... and perhaps still a trailer?

Fans Get an Exclusive First-Look at the New Ghostbusters

Very, very early this morning, Chris at Proton Charging posted up an exclusive photo from the new Ghostbusters (2016) provided by the good folks at Sony as a first-look to the fans from, what we can assume is a location that will be seen in the film. It's a great image with a whole lot of attitude as the four new 'busters stand in a very New York art-deco looking locale. And, aside from the single group photo of the gang in front of the Chinese Restaurant during production, is the first official look of all four of the new cast together.

Still no word on a trailer, but one can assume it's still on the way. But in the meantime, this is a great sneak peek of things to come and a great gesture from Sony Pictures to send it to the fans first before it hits the mainstream.

UPDATE: Later in the day, an alternative shot, a little wider and with the actors posed slightly differently was released. This one gives you a better sense of scope that the image from this morning (look at the detail in that set). 

Getting to Know: Kate McKinnon

In the months leading up to the release of an all-new Ghostbusters film in July of 2016, GBHQ will be giving you a look into the highly talented cast and crew that are involved in the film in an effort to familiarize fans with their work and background leading up to the film's premiere.

Up first, Kate McKinnon who plays Jillian Holtzmann in the new film.

McKinnon was born the same year as the concept of Ghostbusters, 1984. She originally hails from New York, where she was trained and a regular performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York City. Ghostbusters fans should take note that she's an actual graduate of Columbia University. Her knack for improvization and impersonation caught the eye of casting directors on the 2007 Big Gay Sketch Show, which debuted on Logo. While the show failed to make an impact, McKinnon's were given the chance to go public. McKinnon made the move to Los Angeles and as a featured member of the CBS Diversity Showcase, an annual performance in Los Angeles intended to showcase new and upcoming comedic talent for casting directors, directors, producers and showrunners looking for new talent to star in their fall television shows. But before she could be swept into sitcom stardom, she caught the eye of Lorne Michaels as a potential candidate for one of his Not Ready for Primetime Players on Saturday Night Live.

McKinnon joined SNL in 2012 as a featured player, then later as a member of the regular cast. Spot-on impressions of Ellen DeGeneres and Justin Bieber led to recurring sketch characters like a poor Russian woman on Weekend Update, and the lonely and love-starved Sheila Sauvage who prowls a bar right before last call for her prey. Just recently, McKinnon took over duties of characterizing presidential candidate Hillary Clinton from Amy Poehler. It should be noted that portraying a president in office or presidential candidate is often considered one of the greatest honors for an SNL cast member. Upon her casting on SNL, McKinnon often drew comparisons to cast member Kristen Wiig (who was in the process of exiting the show for a career in films at the time), and was often faced with inquiries if she would be able to fill Wiig's shoes. The two are, of course, now co-stars in the upcoming Ghostbusters film.

In addition to her work on television, McKinnon has long been a voiceover artist, having provided voices for Simpsons, Family Guy, The Venture Bros., Toy Story of Terror, Moonbeam City and Robotomy. She is also multi-talented musically and plays guitar, piano, and the cello... much like a certain New York Symphony Orchestra performer who once turned into a dog.

McKinnon's character in the new Ghostbusters film looks to showcase the best of her talents. Her character, Jillian Holtzmann has a unique look and appears to have a unique and energy infused persona: an environment in which McKinnon excels. 

Listen to Rick Moranis on an All-New Interdimensional Crossrip

The all-new fourth edition of the Ghostbusters Interdimensional Crossrip podcast has hit the interwebs and we're headed to the Great White North to speak with "the hermit of the Ghostbusters," Mr. Rick Moranis!

In this edition Troy and Chris talk about the IDW Comics "Mass Hysteria" hardcover compilation, the character names being revealed for Ghostbusters (2016), and spend a half hour talking about Hollywood, creativity, and of course Ghostbusters with actor, musician and writer Rick Moranis.

You can listen online/download the podcast here on GBHQ, or better yet - be like the cool kids and subscribe via iTunes so that you get to hear each podcast the moment it's posted online.

New Episode of the Interdimensional Crossrip Podcast for July 13, 2015

The all-new second edition of the Ghostbusters Interdimensional Crossrip podcast has hit the interwebs and is ready for consumption by your ear holes!

In this edition (which unfortunately was recorded mere hours before the above group photo was released to the world), Troy and Chris discuss the new Ectomobile design, talk Ghostbusters (2016) casting, spend some time diving into IDW's Ghostbusters: Get Real #1, and compare notes on just how much money they each spent on the Cryptozoic Ghostbusters Board Game Kickstarter campaign.

You can listen online/download the podcast here on GBHQ, or better yet - be like the cool kids and subscribe via iTunes so that you get to hear each podcast the moment it's posted online.

 

A Collection of News Spores for July 9

The past two weeks have been a flurry of Ghostbusters-related activity between Ghostbusters (2016) production occurring on the east coast, and the San Diego Comic-Con happening on the west coast. GBHQ isn't a breaking news kind of place but there's so much going on we wanted to present a "collection of spores" all in one space to get you up to speed...

"MOICHINDISING!"

(Photo courtesy of the Ghostbusters of Southern California)

Preview Night at San Diego Comic-Con 2015 kicked off the week's festivities yesterday and many of the key Ghostbusters licensors had their goods already out on display. The Ghostbusters of Southern California were on the scene to snap some photos of the upcoming Diamond Select line-up of action figures as well as a mystery glass case at the Mattel booth that eventually contained one of the Ghostbusters (2016) proton pack props from production (and presumably, will also contain more goods following the licensing presentation on Friday).

1:4 THE HERO

Hollywood Collectables Group has been working on Ghostbusters-related merchandise behind the scenes for the better part of the year (or longer), some people speculated that a 1:1 prop or two might be in the works. But it was revealed that they are going to unveil their 1:4 scaled Peter Venkman statue at this week's San Diego Comic-Con. They took to Facebook to give us a little sneak peek of the figure and the crazy amount of detail that will be put into each and every statue. Can't wait to see the full reveal.

SAVING THE DAY

Now here's something you don't see every day. According to Boston news outlet WHIDH, there was an altercation between two local Bostonians near the Chinatown filming location of Ghostbusters (2016). An elderly woman was assaulted and the production crew aided the Boston Police in their investigation. On an unfortunate note, WHIDH says the 72-year old woman is not expected to survive.

It's Slime Time (And What/How Production Will Be Covered on GBHQ)

Production on Paul Feig's Ghostbusters (2016) begins this evening (with a night shoot to kick off production, may the caffeine gods bless the crew). Feig took to Twitter to post the above photograph to announce the production start, giving fans their first sneak peek at the infamous ectoplasm which is safely assumed a big part of the film. 

It's probably a good idea to take this moment on day one to lay out a few ground rules of what you'll be seeing here on the HQ, and when and how...

1) No spy photos, no rumors, no spoilers.

As you may have gathered in the few months that we've been back in business, GBHQ is no longer mainly a news site. Breaking news isn't our bag, and the first for a scoop isn't remotely a part of our mission statement. I'm still a firm believer it letting the filmmakers and the studio handle what you see and why as it ultimately can and might impact your viewing experience when the film hits the theaters. Unlit, uncomposed, long-lens spy photos that are your first looks of things drive me nuts. If a drone flies 100 yards above the set and snaps the first pictures of a new Ecto-1 or a crucial part of the production but it's not from official sources, don't expect to see it here.

2) We ARE going to be getting you in-depth articles, making-of/BTS moments, and official news as much as possible.

Those of you that have been around GBHQ since the glory days (or were they the dark days?) remember how we covered Extreme Ghostbusters. It's a little tricky as cast and crew are all under NDAs and I above all respect those. It'll be our goal to get you meaty content that's NDA-friendly and might give a little insight into the production process.

3) Trolls should stick to scouring New York City to breakdance and party.

GBHQ has a pretty civil commenting guideline set that aren't really conducive to feeding the trolls. For whatever reason, there are a lot of (very vocal) angry comments out there. People are entitled to their opinions, just as I'm entitled to mine. So while you're sitting in my living room, take off your shoes and please mind the rules of the house. Thanks.

An Open Letter to Me Circa 1997...

File Photo: Troy, Embarrassingly circa-1999.

Dear Troy,

Hey, it's yourself from the future. Take a minute from trying to reconnect to AOL after your parents picked up the phone and kicked you offline to read this for a quick second.

Today is Wednesday, June 17, 2015. I know that date has to seem pretty crazy to you, and to answer your first question: no. Cars don't fly yet. It's kind of bullshit, sorry. But I wanted to send you a letter from this date today to let you know that a new Ghostbusters movie is finally in front of cameras as of today.

Let's see... being 1997 you're probably super excited about Extreme Ghostbusters right about now.  If my records are right, you're probably hearing rumors that Adam Sandler, Chris Farley and Chris Rock are circling being a part of a new Ghostbusters film. But some heartbreak is on the way as you're soon going to tragically lose Farley, and several years later are going to lose a few other people that will break your heart too.

I'm not going to lie to you, the next eighteen years are going to be a little tumultuous in terms of your love for a certain property called Ghostbusters. There are going to be false starts, multiple casting rumors, and plenty of head scratchers between the time you're reading this to the time that a new movie is actually becoming a reality. You're going to hear rumors that make you geek out like you never have before, then there'll be rumors that will make you squint and ask nobody in particular, "Wha?" But ultimately what Paul Feig and the cast he's assembled for this film almost twenty years later from the date you receive this is the only way that it can be done. 

Take careful notice of a movie called Blues Brothers 2000 that's going to come out next year. You and your good friend Drew are going to go see it and, while both of you are going to want to immediately buy Ray-Ban sunglasses because you think they're cool, you're not going to be over the moon about the movie. You're going to notice that the filmmakers made some concessions in order to get the movie made, but ultimately what you're going to notice is that the story is continuing the storytelling of characters that aren't there, and can't be there for many reasons. And it's going to feel odd. It's going to feel like a Beethoven Symphony where a piano wasn't available for scheduling purposes. The music is still good, but you can't help but feel that something crucial is missing.

What the production crew filming in Boston, then later in New York are working on is a retelling. Sort of like what the original Ghostbusters was to those Bob Hope films it so lovingly paid homage toward. I'm sure you're a little disappointed that this isn't the sixth movie in an ongoing story but that's not necessarily a bad thing. There's extremely funny people in front and behind the camera, just as there was back then. It kind of sucks but there's going to be a lot of attention paid to the gender and the weight of some of the actors, a result of the strange snarky judgmental cacophony that pop culture becomes in the internet age. (Yeah, that's also something that you're going to find... your tried and true entertainment news sources are going to turn into gossip tabloids, and the internet is going to turn into a bunch of blogs - including yours - that feed people the news so that they can be upset about anything and everything down to the tiniest detail, it's really tough to explain and I'll have to save that for another letter to you when I can explain it myself).

There's a good chance that you may not like the end result of what they're doing starting today. But then again, there's also a good chance that it'll entertain you. You'll have just seen a fourth (yes, fourth) Jurassic Park movie in the same week that filming begins on Paul Feig's Ghostbusters (2016) and it's going to put things in perspective. Nothing can really ever be as good as the lightning in a bottle that was captured in that 1984 film. To think that you can recreate that is foolishness. But if there's a way to recapture the spirit of what made the original so fun and put it into a two-hour film that you enjoy, that makes you forget about the real world outside that movie theater for a couple hours, and makes you feel like a kid again, then it's all going to be worth the effort of the filmmakers.

But while you're watching that Jurassic Park sequel, there's going to be a little girl sitting no more than six seats down from you. She's going to be standing and jumping up and down (much to the dismay of her parents trying to control her), bonkers excited for the movie to start. She's going to be scared during some of the scarier moments, and she's going to leave the theater making dinosaur noises and begging her parents to see the film again. And for her, that movie is going to be a similar ride as when you were sitting by yourself in a darkened Greenwood Village theater in 1992, and is going to have the same impact.

There's a good chance this new Ghostbusters is going to do the same. It's going to capture the imaginations of an entirely new generation that's too young to moan and groan about the good old days or how they think the movie could have been done far differently and been successful. It might not have the same effect on you as those original movies did when you were a kid, but it might have a similar effect on someone that twenty years from now will be writing a similar letter to their past self.

If they're smart about it, and I'm fairly certain and confident that they are, Feig and Co. are going to make that movie for both of those audiences in mind. A movie for the new generation that's a little too young to get all the jokes but loves the premise and their imaginations are sparked with the possibilities. And a movie for you, the thirty-something (yeah, you become a thirty-something... spoiler-alert) who gets the jokes and just needs to escape for a couple hours.

Hang in there pal, it's all going to be worth it eventually.

Best,

The Troy of 2015

PS: Oh yeah, before I forget: there's going to be a guy offering you a pre-order for a hardcover comic book at some in the next couple years... don't do it.

He Also Enjoys Racquetball

Yesterday Paul Feig stayed true to his pattern of Ghostbusters announcements and posted a picture to Twitter of the Ghostbusters' new receptionist, in the form of Chris Hemsworth.

At risk of cribbing a phrase from one of the characters in our beloved series... this is great.

According to Variety, the role was initially offered to Hemsworth who passed because the role was on the smaller side. But a rewrite later and the actor most well-known as Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was locked in as a character we only know as "the receptionist." While most fans are immediately drawing lines and comparisons to Janine Melnitz, it stands to reason that this character won't share much in common with his 1980s counterpart other than their chosen profession. The fact that the filmmakers actively pursued him and tailored the role to him is of interest. Maybe they've seen his turn in the new Vacation film and what they saw showed a lot of comedic promise?

For me, Hemsworth absolutely made Thor. What surprised me most about that film was just how much it made me laugh, from chucking a coffee cup toward the floor in the diner to sharing a boilermaker with Dr. Selvig, Hemsworth exudes a genuine charm and charisma that you can see playing well with the other leads in Ghostbusters (2016)

There's also a chance Hemsworth might be trying his hand at being a character actor, and we'll see an entirely different side to him than we've seen before as well. At this point, the sky is the limit and who knows where this is going to go. And that's what I'm enjoying the most about this project. The potential. Much like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I don't know what to expect with this film. And with those unlimited possibilities, that's exciting.

A Little Ghostbusters Crew Speculation While All's Quiet on the Western Front

After the onslaught of news over the course of a couple weeks, a quiet has hushed across the usually bustling interweb landscape when it comes to Ghostbusters (2016) news and rumors. And thankfully, it's a calm before the storm that I'm sure is very welcome both for us fans as well as for the production crew as they prepare for principal photography.

With a June 15 production start date in the near-distant future, one would assume pre-production on Paul Feig's Ghostbusters revamp is well underway. With just about 11 weeks before cameras roll, set and prop construction should be ramping up. It also appears that Paul Feig is still out and about on his press tour for the June 5 release of Spy, with his travels taking the director to an advance Q&A screening of the film in Chicago tonight. That's got to be a tough-going schedule for Feig, as the world-tour press circuit and Spy's release date being a mere week and a half before day one on Ghostbusters affords him little breathing room.

Production Manager David Witz (Gone Girl, Star Trek, and Mission: Impossible III) has joined Ghostbusters according to Production Weekly, which means that full crew hopping onto the production can't be far behind. If IMDB is to be believed the first of those crew members, Nancy St. John (and her company Prime Focus) have boarded the new Ghostbusters in some capacity, either to provide a 3D conversion to the film or as one of (what I can only assume will be) the multiple visual effects houses brought on-board the film. This brings up an interesting question, will Feig be filming Ghostbusters in native 3D? Or will the film be converted for the third-dimension in post-production?

While 3D cinema-going has grown on me, there's a big part of me that hopes the film will be shot 2D (and on film) and then gets the stereo 3D treatment after the fact. As evidenced by the recent remastered Blu-ray release of the original 1984 film, there's something about this concept that lends itself to a little bit of a gritty film-grain look. 

To that point, my hope is that long-time collaborator and Oscar-nominated Cinematographer Robert Yeoman will be joining Feig on Ghostbusters, as he has on the director's three previous films, Spy, The Heat and Bridesmaids. His unique visual style will be perfect for the fantastical world of Ghostbusters that's on the horizon. Whether that will be the case or not remains to be seen as it also appears that Yeoman is attached to Peyton Reed (Ant-Man)'s upcoming film Staying Cool. The productions may overlap making Yeoman's participation in the project difficult if not impossible.

Another big part of the film's look and feel, will be its Production Designer. Jefferson Sage has been at the forefront as the Production Designer on Feig's last three films as well as Paul and Year One and also acted as Art Director on Analyze This. Legendary Production Designers John DeCuir (Ghostbusters, Cleopatra, South Pacific) and Bo Welch (Ghostbusters II, Batman Returns, Thor, Joe vs. the Volcano) are tough acts to follow but Sage most certainly has the chops to create some memorable set-pieces with a comedic edge.

Yes, all of the above is purely speculation. And I imagine it's only a matter of time before we start seeing and hearing of cast/crew commitments to the June 15th release date. But it's fun to start visualizing what might be in store once those puzzle pieces start coming together.

The New Ghostbusters Films: Just the Facts

All this editorializing keeps our hair up, right Joe?

"All-female" and "Guy-centric" Ghostbusters. Chances are if you've thrown a rock at the internet lately, you've seen either of those terms in every headline you've come across. But both of those distinctions were given to the upcoming Ghostbusters sequel/reboot/remake/restarts by editorialized comments beginning at their points of origin.

So let's do something, shall we? Let's take a cue from another of Dan Akyroyd's characters that I adore and stick to just the facts... No anonymous sources, no "speculation," no snarky comments. 

Here are the direct quotes from those involved without any editorializing:

October 8, 2014 c/o Paul Feig Twitter - Feig announces he is making a new film. Note, he says "will star hilarious women."

October 8, 2014 - c/o Entertainment Weekly - Feig elaborates on his Tweet directly to EW, in his own words.

"I had been contacted by Sony and Ivan a number of months ago when I was in Budapest shooting my new movie Spy. But I was like, I don’t know if I want to take that on because the first two are such classics and just because of how do you do it? Who do you bring in now that Harold’s gone? I know that Bill didn’t want to do it and I love Dan, but it was just like I don’t know how to do it.  Then I had lunch with [Sony Pictures co-chairman] Amy Pascal when I got back to town. She was just saying, gosh, nobody wants to do this. I said, yeah, it’s really hard to take that on, especially since it’s 25 years later. how do you come back into a world that’s had these ghosts and all this? It just felt too difficult. How do you do it and not screw it up? But then it was bugging me for the next few days because Ghostbusters is such a great thing and everybody knows it, and it’s such a great world. It’s a shame to just let this thing sit there. I want to see another one. My favorite thing to do is work with funny women. I was like, what if it was an all female cast? If they were all women?  Suddenly, my mind kind of exploded: that would be really fun. And then I thought, well, what if we just make it new? It’s not coming into the world that existed before. It’s always hard if the world has gone through this big ghost attack, how do you do it again? I wanted to come into our world where there’s talk of ghosts but they’re not really credible, and so what would happen in our world if this happened today?"
"We want to have fun with giving nods to what came before, but we don’t want to be bound by it because Katie and I already have talked at length and we have really fun ideas for things. But we want to tell the stories that we would like to tell, which means we want to tell the character arcs that we want to tell, which means we want to start with some of our characters in a different place or with different personalities and things they have to overcome and learn through the experience of this first movie. My number one thing is always about character and what is somebody learning from or transforming through whatever happens to them in the movie. So I think there will be definitely room to play with that. We want to do clever nods to it, but not cloying nods to it. We want to have the ability to really bring it into modern day."
"We have a very rough, rough outline that we’re working with, but definitely know the basic story, know what we want the basic characters to do, know what we want the world to do and what the rules of our world are, but nothing I want to discuss obviously. It’s cool. I think it’s a really strong origin story that feels real—as real as a ghost story is. It’s going to be really fun and real. We’ll make it scary and funny."
"Everything is up for grabs right now. I look at this the same way a superhero movie launches where it’s always fun to see, like, what are they going to do with the costumes this time? What are they going to do with the hardware this time? It’s not going to be, here is the exact same stuff. It’s also not going to go, screw you, if you like that stuff, it’s all completely different. We’re going to have fun with it, but again, bring it into our time period. I’m a big hardware nerd when it comes to sci-fi and all of that so I love all the gear and I love all that. We’re really going to have fun with playing with the science of it. I think fans will be very happy with what we do because it has fun with what came before but it’s new. It’s just a new, fun take on it."
"I just don’t understand why it’s ever an issue anymore. I’ve promoted both Bridesmaids and The Heat and myself and my cast are still hit constantly with the question, “will this answer the question of whether women can be funny?” I really cannot believe we’re still having this conversation. Some people accused it of kind of being a gimmick and it’s like, it would be a gimmick if I wasn’t somebody whose brain doesn’t automatically go to like, I want to just do more stuff with women. I just find funny women so great. For me it’s just more of a no-brainer. I just go, what would make me excited to do it? I go: four female Ghostbusters to me is really fun. I want to see that dynamic. I want to see that energy and that type of comedy and them going up against these ghosts and going up against human detractors and rivals and that kind of thing. When people accuse it of being a gimmick I go, why is a movie starring women considered a gimmick and a movie starring men is just a normal movie?"
"At the end of the day, all we want to make is a great movie and people are going to attach a lot of energy to either being nervous about this or being excited about it, and all Katie and I and the rest of the team, who we slowly assemble, can do is just make a great movie that’s super funny, that’s scary, that’s real, that has great characters that people identify with and want to see in these situations. It’s a world that they’ve experienced before in the old ones, but the hope is the minute they sit down they’ll go, “I love the old one, oh my god, I’m loving this new one.” Everything’s got to live on it’s own merits. It would be terrible if we just go, oh we’re just doing an update where we use the same dynamic and scripts. If we just flop four women into the exact same personalities and roles as original, then that’s lazy filmmaking on my behalf, and who wants to see that? I don’t want to do a shot by shot update of a movie that existed. It’s the difficult thing about remaking a great movie. So that’s why we’re not remaking a great movie. We’re doing our take on it."

January 15, 2015 - c/o Empire Magazine - Paul Feig talks directly to Empire. In his own words:

"It came out publically that we’re in talks with Melissa but there’s a lot to work out."
"There’s a lot of haters and I get it. The problem with the internet is that if 500 really angry men start bombarding me, I think, ‘Oh god, everybody hates this movie,’ but then you realise that it’s only 500 people. I don’t block anyone out or not read that stuff because I want to know what the most hardcore hater fan’s problem is."
"A lot of people ask why I didn’t create my own thing but Ghostbusters never ran out of steam, it’s such a great idea. It’s such a fun franchise so why not bring it to a new generation? The old movie is never going to not exist. It’s not my plan to erase every copy! Hopefully they can all live together."
"We’ve been working on laptops and passing flash drives back and forth. It’s very old school. We’re using paper, god forbid."

January 27, 2015 - c/o Paul Feig Twitter - Note, this is not an official announcement. It is not confirmation. It is a photo presented by Feig without anecdote. 

January 27, 2015 - c/o Sony-run Sony Pictures Twitter. - Release date announced.

 

January 28, 2015 - c/o Dan Aykroyd direct statement to The Hollywood Reporter - Aykroyd's official press response toward any of the above. No specifics given.

"The Aykroyd family is delighted by this inheritance of the ‘Ghostbusters’ torch by these most magnificent women in comedy. My great grandfather, Dr. Sam Aykroyd, the original Ghostbuster, was a man who empowered women in his day, and this is a beautiful development in the legacy of our family business."

January 29, 2015 - c/o Ernie Hudson Twitter/Hollywood Reporter

"Four fiercely funny, foxy, females busting ghosts ... phenomenal!"

Hudson also retweeted a PR post referring to third-party rumors:

February 11, 2015 - c/o Paul Feig Twitter - Feig contacted me directly through my Ghostbusters HQ Twitter to clarify (and I'm comfortable posting this publicly now as it's been confirmed/printed in the Boston Globe).

February 17, 2015 - c/o Howard Stern Show - Dan Aykroyd appears as guest. In his own words transcribed from radio interview.

"I'm very, very happy. I've got three daughters. I'm all for female empowerment. The thing needed to be stripped down. (Stumbles) As I've said take the Ecto car. Well the Ecto car now has a chassis and wheels, it needs new engine, it needs a new body. I wrote a version of it which we may end up shooting one time. It'll be different than the all-female. But I did write a Ghostbusters 3 and it exists as a script."
"Paul Feig's script is funny."

February 24, 2015 - c/o Variety - Tom Rothman is hired as new Sony Chairman of Motion Pictures, replacing Amy Pascal. He does not specifically talk Ghostbusters but comments on franchises being his priority. In Rothman's own words:

"Every studio needs franchises. That was the case when we took over at Fox and that took time to build it up and it will take time here. It’s very important but it’s equally important to have a diverse slate of films that perform profitably."

March 9, 2015 - c/o Deadline - New production company formed called Ghost Corps. Note, direct quotes from article only. Also note, original article was mysteriously revised and corrected without any explanation late in the day March 9, 2015. Note, casting and/or movie release plan not discussed. Ghost Corps' mission statement, in Ivan Reitman's own words:

"We want to expand the Ghostbusters universe in ways that will include different films, TV shows, merchandise, all things that are part of modern filmed entertainment. This is a branded entertainment, a scary supernatural premise mixed with comedy. Paul Feig’s film will be the first version of that, shooting in June to come out in July 2016. He’s got four of the funniest women in the world, and there will be other surprises to come. The second film has a wonderful idea that builds on that. Drew will start writing and the hope is to be ready for the Russo Brothers’ next window next summer to shoot, with the movie coming out the following year. It’s just the beginning of what I hope will be a lot of wonderful movies. My primary focus will be to build the Ghostbusters into the universe it always promised it might become. The original film is beloved, as is the cast, and we hope to create films we will continue to love."
"Sometimes things happen at the speed they are supposed to happen. The deals were so strong on that second movie that the franchise became frozen in place 25 years. Nothing got done, we all had the power to block whatever we didn’t like, but we finally got together and found a way.”

March 10, 2015 - c/o writer Drew Pearce's Twitter. Direct comments and responses from Pearce in his own words:

March 13, 2015 - c/o Variety - Paul Feig discusses the various films directly with Variety. In his words:

“The Internet is really funny – I love it, but I hate it at the same time. The first wave when you make an announcement like that is overwhelmingly positive. Everyone’s so happy and you’re like, This is great. Then comes the second wave and you’re like, Oh my God. Some of the most vile, misogynistic sh** I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“The biggest thing I’ve heard for the last four months is, ‘Thanks for ruining my childhood.’ It’s going to be on my tombstone when I die. It’s so dramatic. Honestly, the only way I could ruin your childhood is if I got into a time machine and went back and made you an orphan.”
ON GHOST CORPS ANNOUNCEMENT: “I’d heard some rumblings about it. All I know is my ladies are going to kick ass and I would not want to go into battle without them.”

March 14, 2015 - c/o Drew Pearce Twitter and East Grinstead Online

“There are a ton of different kind of jobs in screenwriting and directing out here – the two ends of the scale being ‘assignments’ (usually bigger movies with a pre-existing brand) and ‘specs’ (usually original ideas that you have to write speculatively, without knowing if someone will pay you for it at the end of the process). With some of the bigger movies I’ve worked on – the next Mission Impossible, and the new Ghostbusters movie I’ve just started – your role is part of a team – it’s not a very authored experience, and you know that from the get-go. Then I’ve also got smaller, original ideas like The Long Run, a movie I’m hoping to direct later this year at Fox. Plus I secretly work as a script doctor on occasion, as favours to other filmmakers. That’s basically my job in a nutshell.”
“I’m actually writing a new take, which will star Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt, both of whom are brilliant and very nice chaps to boot. It’s a different kind of story, set in the same universe as the other movies, but following an entirely new group of Ghostbusters.”

MARCH 16, 2015 - c/o reuters AND INDIEWIRE AND COMICBOOK.COM - paul feig comments from sxsw festival at spy premiere. in his words:

"It's a giant franchise and it's a big world. I completely understand wanting to create this whole (franchise) just like 'Star Wars' has. But for me, all I can concentrate on is my ladies and how much we're going to kick ass."
RE: Bill Murray's Possible Involvement in His Film: "We are ready for him. If Bill will show up, Bill is more than welcome. Nothing would make us happier."
"There were plenty of angry tweets to me that thought I did. It was purely a creative decision. I'd been contacted starting last year when I was in production on 'Spy.' I was getting calls from Sony, Ivan Reitman called, they wanted to do a sequel and I was so flattered because I love the franchise so much and wanted it to come back. I just couldn't figure out how to do a sequel 25 years later where two of the original cast members weren't even going to be in it. I'd read the original scripts that had been written to try and do it -- some of my favorite comedy writers wrote those scripts, and they were really good scripts -- but something felt off. The math was off. 

So I kept saying no and then finally had lunch with Amy Pascal and she was just like, 'Why doesn't anybody want to do this movie? None of you comedy directors want to do this!' I went on this whole thing, this is a sacred cow, this thing we all grew up with and thought, 'I don't know how to do it.' But there's this great franchise sitting there, this great idea of funny people battling the paranormal. That's an awesome canvas to paint on. So I thought, if I had to do it, what would I do? The most obvious things are the last things you think about. And I thought, if I made them all women, then I know how to do that. I get excited about that. I can see the comedy and the fun in that. But are they their daughters? What's their thing? I want to see them develop the technology and I want to see the world confront ghosts for the first time and I thought, 'Let's just reboot it.' 

It was as simple as that. It was no more evil than that and there was all this feeling of this evil plotting, I've had things come at me like 'We're so tired of this PC bullshit.' This isn't PC! There's all these funny women; I'm trying to figure out how to get more women's ensembles together and get more of these people working and here it is. That's it."
"Jesus, there's so much. Just put in my address and look at the things that are addressed to me any day. The worst of it was always 'Women can't be 'Ghostbusters'!' This flat statement of 'this can't happen.' I always try to find the germ of logic and, look, for a lot of guys -- I was in my early 20s when I first saw it and I thought it was groundbreaking comedy -- who saw it when they were seven, eight, nine, they kind of grew up playing it so I think to them it's much more a way of life, like a religion."
"No comment on that [laughs]. It does become a bit of a religion for people, like 'Star Wars.' All of our favorite movies are religious icons to us, I try to be sensitive to that and so, guys, I get that but I'm not going to destroy those first two movies. I can't. I almost feel like it would possibly hurt them more if I did it as a direct sequel because it would almost back-poison the well. If you don't like what I end up doing, you can say, 'Well that was the new one. Fuck that. We have these other ones.' You can only do what inspires you and what you think will be fun and what you know how to do for an audience to make them laugh and have a good time. My intentions are nothing but pure."
"We start shooting June 15 so we're still punching up the script, doing heavy prep of designing all our effects and our ghosts and nailing down what we're going to shoot. It's fast approaching."
"I love the original ones so I want to do enough nods to it that the fans go 'Oh, okay they're aware of it! That's fun that they're twisting this and that!' But I also want to make it so that a new generation can make it their own too. We'll make references but blow past them and go toward our own thing; I want to keep the same tone and style but I want it to be even scarier just because I think with the way we can do stuff now, we can really have fun with making it creepier. Comedy and scares go really well together. The original was very scary and if you look at it now, you still have that, but there's a chance to go even further with it."
ON USING RAY PARKER JR.'S ORIGINAL THEME: "We have ways to bring it in that we're playing with, so we'll see. It's such an iconic thing that part of you goes, 'I don't want to change it,' but then another part of you wants to update it. It's one of the biggest questions we're faced with.""

Will continue to update with direct quotes and statements as they're made...

Update 1: 3/11/15 3:27pm - Corrected Tom Rothman title and Amy Pascal spelling. / Added Howard Stern quotes from Dan Aykroyd. / 6:40pm - Added Ernie Hudson response from 1/29/15

Update 2: 3/13/15 1:00pm - Added Paul Feig comments to Variety at SXSW

Update 3: 3/14/15 10:51am - Added additional Drew Pearce comments.