'Ghostbusters' Franchise Will Expand With New Film Starring Channing Tatum, Directed By Russo Brothers

Paul Feig's female-centric Ghostbusters are no longer the only 'busters on the block. Sony has just announced a new division of their company, Ghost Corps, which will take control of the franchise. Lead by Dan Aykroyd and Ivan Reitman, the first order of business is to create a male counterpart to the Feig film. They're eyeing the Russo Brothers to direct, Drew Pierce to write and Channing Tatum to produce and co-star. From there, Sony might do TV shows and more. Read about the Channing Tatum Ghostbusters news below.

Deadline broke the news. Here's what Reitman told them about the Channing Tatum Ghostbusters endeavor:

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.

Dan Aykroyd was recently quoted about wanting to move forward with Ghostbusters as a franchise and a more traditional sequel, but the level of talent already interested and working on this is staggering. No one could have guessed both of his predictions coming true so quickly.

The Russo Brothers just signed a first look deal with Sony and immediately people turned their thoughts to Spider-Man. Well, after the Brothers finish Captain America: Civil War, it seems like now they'll move into this film. That is, of course, if Drew Pearce (who wrote Iron Man 3) has the script done by then. This strongly suggests the Russos directing two Avengers: Infinity War movies is no longer happening. Unless they just produce this, which could possibly happen. Or they might squeeze it in, during late 2016.

Don't forget too, the Russos made their name directing comedy. So this is actually a pretty perfect fit.

Tatum is also an interesting piece of the puzzle. He's been talking about this for some time, as revealed by the Sony leak, but now his idea is actually happening. He's obviously incredibly busy and heavily involved in his new projects. This would almost certainly happen after he films the X-Men movie Gambit, which hits theaters in October 2016. (Of note, Tatum's original idea was that he and Chris Pratt might co-star.)

What this also does is sort of explain the reason why Feig's Ghostbusters is a complete and total reboot instead of a sequel to the original. They need to start clean if they want to make this into a big, connected world of Ghostbusters.

What do you think of a Channing Tatum Ghostbusters movie written by Pierce and directed by the Russos?