New Ghostbusters Christmas Movie in Development

The Ghostbusters franchise might be heading toward the holidays. Hollywood insider and leaker Daniel Richtman reports that Sony is developing a new live-action film titled Ghostbusters: Nightmare on 34th Street.

Details remain sparse, but Josh Miller is reportedly writing the script. He previously penned the Sonic the Hedgehog movies and Violent Night, an action comedy where David Harbour plays a violent Santa Claus fighting to protect his family. That premise aligns with the title of the new Ghostbusters film, which suggests a Christmas setting. The subtitle Nightmare on 34th Street plays on A Nightmare on Elm Street while referencing the classic 1947 Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street.

What recent movies have there been in the Ghostbusters series?

Following the original 1984 Ghostbusters and its 1989 sequel, the franchise was rebooted in 2016. While the reboot received generally positive reviews from critics, it faced backlash from a segment of the fandom for its all-female main cast and a story that some felt did not live up to the originals. It grossed $229 million on a $144 million budget, leading Sony to cancel plans for a direct sequel.

Sony later returned to the original film canon with Ghostbusters: Afterlife in 2021, which earned a 63% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie acted as a direct follow-up to Ghostbusters 2 and centered on Callie Spengler, the daughter of Ghostbuster Egon Spengler, along with her family. Afterlife brought in $204.3 million on a $75 million budget, prompting a 2024 sequel titled Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. In 2024, Frozen Empire director and screenwriter Gil Kenan stated that he was working on a direct sequel, though it remains to be seen whether Ghostbusters: Nightmare on 34th Street is part of that ongoing narrative line.

What other Ghostbusters projects are in the works?

Beyond Gil Kenan’s untitled sequel to Frozen Empire and Nightmare on 34th Street, which could potentially be the same project, Sony Pictures Animation is developing an animated film slated for Netflix. On the television side, Ghostbusters: Night Shift is an animated series from Flying Bark Productions, the studio behind Stranger Things: Tales from ’85, scheduled for release in 2027 on Netflix.

Source: Polygon