'Ghostbusters' Sequel: Sony Executive Has "No Doubt" It Will Happen

This past weekend brought the debut of Ghostbusters at the box office, and while it wasn't big enough to take down Illumination Entertainment's second weekend for their massive hit The Secret Life of Pets, it still pulled down a respectable $46 million. It's not clear if that's a bit of a disappointing number for the studio, but apparently it doesn't matter, because they have "no doubt" that a Ghostbusters sequel will come together.

Find out what a key Sony Pictures executive said about the future of Ghostbusters after the jump.

Speaking with The Wrap over the weekend, Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution at Sony Pictures said:

The 'Ghostbusters' world is alive and well. I expect 'Ghostbusters' to become an important brand and franchise. While nothing has been officially announced yet, there's no doubt in my mind it will happen.

If somebody that high up at Sony is confident enough to come out and say that there is "no doubt" that a Ghostbsuters sequel will happen, then it seems like a safe bet that we'll get another installment following Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones as the new paranormal exterminators. McCarthy has already indicated she's down to make as many sequels as possible, but it's not clear whether Paul Feig will return to the director's chair or not.

As for what territory the sequel will head into, that could be the most exciting part. While the Ghostbusters reboot told a similar story as the original, it did so with the twist of a villain (albeit a weak one) driving up paranormal activity in New York City. So with that out of the way, maybe we can venture into more unknown territory and take on a story that we haven't seen yet.

However, for those who stayed until the very end of the credits, we already have a hint of what the sequel will offer, and it teased the arrival of an evil force we've already seen before. Stop reading right now if you haven't seen the new Ghostbusters and don't want spoilers for the credits scene.

In the scene after the credits have rolled, all four of the Ghostbusters are in their new lab at the original Ghostbusters firehouse headquarters (which they couldn't afford before). Leslie Jones' character Patty Tolan is listening to an audio tape with some headphones and gets an increasingly concerned look on her face until she takes off the headphones and asks, "Hey guys, what's Zuul?"

Zuul is one of the two terror dogs dispatched by Gozer the Gozerian in the original Ghostbusters. The other is Vinz Clortho, and the two demon dogs end up inhabiting the bodies of Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis, making them both the Gatekeeper and the Keymaster, allowing the arrival of the evil God who aims to destroy New York City.

Bringing back that storyline doesn't sound like the smartest move for the sequel unless they take a completely different approach to the story. We already got the return of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in the form of a ghost parade balloon and Rowan's giant monster form of the Ghosbutsters logo isn't too far removed from the puffy sailor, so the revival of Gozer, Zuul and Vinz Clortho would need to bring something different to the table.