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Sony Pictures Entertainment has signed Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan, the Ghostbusters: Afterlife co-writing partners and Oscar nominees, to an overall producing deal with the studio as they launch their own production banner.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the sequel to the 1984 Ghostbusters film, is also directed by Reitman, son of franchise creator Ivan Reitman, and executive produced by Kenan. The movie opened to $44 million at the box office and, through its second week of release, has earned $87.8 million domestically and $115.8 million worldwide.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife‘s box office success is welcomed by Sony after failing to revive the franchise with the 2016 female-skewing Ghostbusters. The studio is counting on big business post-Thanksgiving into the coming weekend.
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“Jason and Gil as co-writing partners have a remarkable understanding of commercial quality cinema, and we are thrilled about the upcoming pipeline from these guys,” Sanford Panitch, president of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, said in a statement.
Reitman made his feature film debut with the 2006 Sundance hit Thank You for Smoking and earned Oscar nominations for directing Juno and Up in the Air. Kenan directed Monster House, a Sony Pictures release, City of Ember, Poltergeist and the soon-to-be-released A Boy Called Christmas.
“We’re excited to have evolved our storytelling partnership into a full-fledged production company and couldn’t be more proud to have a home at Sony Pictures, the studio most committed to the theatrical movie going experience,” said Reitman and Kenan in their own statement.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife stars Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Annie Potts and Paul Rudd, and follows a single mom and her two kids who arrive in a small town and discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind. The film earned an A- CinemaScore from audiences.
Reitman is repped by WME and Alan Wertheimer. Kenan is repped by WME and Robert Offer.
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