Kris Pearn To Direct ‘Ghostbusters’ Animated Feature For Sony And Netflix
Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix are in early development on a Ghostbusters animated feature, in addition to the Ghostbusters animated series Sony is already making for Netflix.
Kris Pearn (Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2, The Willoughbys) is attached to direct. Sony’s Ghost Corps division, which oversees the franchise, is also involved in the production.
No plot details are available yet, but Deadline, which first reported the news, stated, “[S]ources close to development of this film see it as something that could do for the IP what the animated Spider-Verse films have done for Spider-Man.”
Sony has been trying to launch a Ghostbusters animated feature for a few years now. In 2022, it was revealed that a feature was being developed by directors Jennifer Kluska (Hotel Transylvania: Transformania) and Titmouse founder Chris Prynoski. The writer of that earlier project was Brenda Hsueh (Elemental, How I Met Your Mother).
The supernatural comedy franchise sprang from the 1984 feature Ghostbusters, written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, and directed by Ivan Reitman. The film famously took inspiration from the ghost-hunting comedies of Bob Hope, Martin and Lewis, Abbott and Costello, The Bowery Boys, and some believe Disney’s 1937 Disney short Lonesome Ghosts. Three theatrical sequels followed, including this year’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, as well as two animated series – The Real Ghostbusters (1986) and Extreme Ghostbusters (1997). An all-female theatrical reboot was released in 2016.
