Since a third Ghostbusters movie doesn’t appear to be happening any time soon, director Ivan Reitman’s free to pursue additional projects, and Variety thinks it knows in what direction the Stripes and Meatballs filmmaker might next head.
Instead of straight comedy, though, Reitman will flex his muscles on a time-traveling sci-fi picture that’s being set up at Paramount (where he recently did No Strings Attached with Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher). Called Field Trip, the movie would follow a schoolteacher who embarks on a time-travel journey with her class. Screenwriters Theodore Bressman and David Branson Smith have been hired to bulk up the concept, credited to Jordan Cahan, while Reitman will help produce through the Montecito Pictures label.
Variety calls Field Trip a “passion project of Reitman’s for some time now,” and the feature should be able to leap into hyperdrive now that it has the right writing team in place. The blending of science-fiction and comedy has been Reitman’s strength over the course of his decades-spanning career. Though he put himself on the map with Meatballs and Stripes, his ability at pairing average Joes with supernatural forces in the first Ghostbusters is what helped make Reitman a household name. And while he stayed busy with character comedy over the years – helming hits like Kindergarten Cop and Dave -- he’d always dabble in sci-fi and fantasy for films like Evolution or 2006’s My Super Ex-Girlfriend.
A large part of Trip will rely on casting. Who might Reitman tap to play his time-traveling teacher? Maybe he can get Murray involved in this project, and they both can let Ghostbusters die? We’ll keep you posted as details emerge.
