Netflix’s Animated Ghostbusters Movie Taps a New Writer
Proton packs are humming again as Netflix’s animated Ghostbusters movie springs back to life, with Sam Jarvis set to pen the new script.
Ghostbusters animation is back in motion. The long-gestating animated movie from Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix just locked a new writer, and the project’s history is a whole saga on its own.
The animated movie finally stirs
Sam Jarvis (Dollface) is writing the latest draft of the animated Ghostbusters feature. Earlier versions came from Yoni Brenner (The Bad Guys 2) and Christy Hall (It Ends With Us). Kris Pearn (The Willoughbys) is on deck to direct. Plot details are still sealed up tight.
On a parallel track, Netflix also has an animated Ghostbusters series cooking. Whether it intersects with the movie remains unclear.
This thing has had more lives than a marshmallow cat
- Over a decade ago, original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman announced an animated film, rumored to flip the script and tell the story from the ghosts' point of view.
- Fletcher Moules, best known for those everywhere-you-look Clash of Clans ads, was set to direct that version.
- The project went quiet for years, then resurfaced in 2022 with Jennifer Kluska (Hotel Transylvania: Transformania) and Chris Prynoski (Big Mouth) stepping in to direct.
- Now we’re in a fresh iteration with Kris Pearn steering and Jarvis writing the newest draft. Maybe this is the pass that finally sticks.
Where the franchise sits right now
The most recent film, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, pulled in $201 million worldwide on a reported $100 million budget. Not a wipeout, not a runaway. Director Gil Kenan has been clear he wants to keep the proton stream going, though.
"The answer is yes... we take the responsibility and the joy of being the keepers of the flame of Ghostbusters very seriously. We definitely are continuing the conversation of telling big Ghostbuster stories on the big screen. And stay tuned. There'll be more."
No word yet on what the next live-action installment looks like, but Dan Aykroyd sounds ready to let the newer crew lead the way.
"I don't see that coming. I don't see where they would need us to carry it on. They've got a whole new cast, and they've got whole new ideas."
Bottom line: the animated feature is finally moving again, the series is bubbling alongside it, and the big-screen team isn’t packing up the firehouse. If you like your ectoplasm rendered and your jokes ghost-dry, this could be a fun lane for the brand.