The Ghostbusters franchise has been enjoying a modern comeback in recent years, thanks to a pair of theatrical releases that brought the franchise back into the spotlight.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire reconnected the series to its roots while introducing a new generation of ghost hunters led by Phoebe Spengler, played by McKenna Grace.
Fans showed up, nostalgia hit hard, and the brand stayed culturally relevant. But financially, those movies landed in an awkward middle ground.
Both films wrapped their theatrical runs a little north of $200 million worldwide. That’s respectable, but for effects-heavy summer releases, it isn’t exactly the kind of return that sparks confidence in escalating budgets.
Sony clearly took notice, and that reality helps explain why the studio has been steering the franchise in a new direction. Instead of chasing massive box office numbers, the focus has shifted toward animation and streaming, with a new partnership at Netflix that includes both a series and a feature-length animated movie.
After more than a year of silence, the animated film just received its first real sign of forward momentum. Industry insider Jeff Sneider reports that the project has brought on a new writer, Sam Jarvis, a comedy writer known for her work on Tosh.0 and Hulu’s Dollface.
She steps in following earlier drafts by Yoni Brenner and Christy Hall, signaling a continued effort to fine-tune the script rather than rush it out the door.
The movie is still set to be directed by Kris Pearn, who previously helmed The Willoughbys, and it’s being developed as part of Sony’s larger Ghostbusters universe.
Story details are being kept tightly under wraps, including how or if it connects to the recent live-action films. For now, it appears to be its own standalone chapter, free to play in the sandbox without being tied to existing continuity.
From a creative standpoint, animation just makes sense for this franchise. Ghostbusters lives at the intersection of comedy and supernatural chaos, and that combination gets incredibly expensive in live action.
Every strange ghost, goo-covered monster, or citywide paranormal disaster demands extensive visual effects work. In animation, those limits disappear. Wild creature designs, exaggerated physics, and massive spectral threats can all exist without blowing up the budget, making it a far better fit for a streaming-first release.
There’s also history on animation’s side. The Real Ghostbusters, which debuted in 1986 and ran for seven seasons expanded the lore in ways the films never could. The series explored bizarre corners of the spirit world, introduced memorable villains, and leaned hard into the weirdness of ghost hunting.
Animation gives the creative team room to embrace the absurd, the scary, and the imaginative without worrying about physical constraints or ballooning costs. It’s a format that invites bigger ideas and stranger ghosts, which is exactly where this franchise thrives.
The untitled Ghostbusters animated movie and its companion series are both still in development at Netflix. There’s no release window yet, but after a long stretch of silence, this update finally confirms the project is alive and moving forward.
