There’s a word floating around Hollywood right now that is coveted like no other. That word is “Universe.”

A decade ago, the word was trilogy. Conspicuous examples like The Lord of the Rings and Christopher Nolan’s Batman set the standard in terms of making money and attracting engaged audiences, and every studio was hunting for their own three-part blockbuster.

The rise in the Universe approach to creating and building a superhero series is exemplified by and largely because of the great things Marvel has accomplished with films like Iron Man and The Avengers. Marvel’s The Avengers grossed $1.5 billion worldwide, making it the third highest-grossing film of all time. Iron Man 3 is the sixth-highest grossing film of all time.

Marvel established a successful track record that continues to be the set the bar for “universe” properties in Hollywood. Now, almost every other major studio is scouring their properties for a similarly profitable strategy. Such was the context in early March when Sony announced that it was working with Ivan Reitman, Dan Ackroyd and others to expand the Ghostbusters concept as part of its own universe.

Iron Man
by BlackMageAlodia

Iron Man
by KidNotorious

Iron man Tony Stark
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But what are the parts that make up the anatomy of a film universe?

Marvel is drawing from a well of source material that they probably couldn’t exhaust if they wanted to. Just as an example, Iron Man first appeared as a character in comics in 1963, and has been in thousands of issues since then. When the studio goes to make a new Iron Man film, they have a wealth of stories to tell and villains to introduce. The same applies for basically every character in The Avengers. The Marvel Universe existed long before Robert Downey Jr. put on that red and gold suit, it was just a matter of adapting the characters and their stories for the screen.

Making Ghostbusters into a universe would present any screenwriter with a somewhat tall order. What every good universe needs to support a theoretically limitless number of films being created within it is lore — a cultural mythology that answers fundamental questions about what the setting of the story is like. Marvel has a firmly established world to work with because of its back catalogue of source material. Even Star Wars, which, thanks to Disney, is fast-becoming a cinematic universe of its own, has had novels, comics, games, and TV shows set in its world that both expand its borders and also give filmmakers looking to make adaptations something to draw from. All of these populate the Star Wars universe with details, making it more realistic.

The Ghostbusters Universe is lacking that level of detail.

Even though the original film has been spun-off into comics and a few animated series, they lack the cultural ubiquity and engaged fandoms of other comparable properties. No one denies the overall likability of the original Ghostbusters film. Although the same can’t be said of the sequel. Ghostbusters 2 — and I’m quoting from the Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus here — “is reasonably amusing, but it lacks the charm, wit, and energy of its predecessor.”

Ghostbusters
by xXNightblade08Xx

In other words, the creatives in charge of willing the Ghostbusters Universe into existence have one cult classic and its half-baked sequel to use as foundation for a world in which infinite storylines should theoretically be able to be created. One can’t help but think about what happened when a relatively short tale about an adventurous young Hobbit and his Dwarven, Wizard, and Elven friends was overzealously expanded into a meandering trilogy, the end goal of which was presumably to fill company coffers more than entertain audiences. It was a shame that The Hobbit’s film adaptation wasn’t better, especially considering how good The Lord of the Rings movies were. Maybe it’s an oversimplified view, but it seems fair to at least blame part of the problem with those three films on there being too much time and not enough story to fill it. One can easily imagine Ghostbusters facing this problem.

With all that in mind, the fact that Paul Feig is directing the first Ghostbusters reboot with a cast led by four of the funniest women in showbiz is definitely a reason to be optimistic. As culture critics far more qualified than this one have pointed out, the fact that Sony is also developing a male-led Ghostbusters film with Channing Tatum and the Russo brothers has needlessly created a potential battle-of-the-sexes scenario that Sony should have been wise enough to see coming and deft enough to curtail. But even with that in mind, having talented people attached to both projects is a good sign.

Ghostbusters
by TyrineCarver

GhostBusters
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You could certainly argue that the sort of blank slate that creators involved in the new Ghostbusters films have to work with is actually a good thing.

It gives talented writers room to tell a story from scratch with few constraints. This should come as a breath of fresh air, except if you’re going to create something new, why not just do that? Surely someone out there has an idea for a script that takes place within a universe that can easily be spun-off and repurposed over and over again. You can almost hear the words “It’s a Universe” spilling from the mouths of thirsty screenwriters in pitch meetings with studio execs at this very second.

This is the Ghostbusters paradox. Its writers lack a universe full of stories to draw from, but they are working within the realm of a credentialed franchise with plenty of fans. The most cynical possible assessment of this direction is that someone at Sony is betting that any reasonably well-loved property can precipitate a universe on the basis of its potential fans alone. And that strategy will probably work for one film or two, but the real secret ingredient studio execs should be looking to Marvel for is the level of talent involved with each of its projects, as well as their almost uncanny knack for picking the right people for the right roles (can you imagine anyone other than Downey Jr. as Iron Man? That was considered a controversial casting choice at the time).

Early signs indicate that Sony already knows that, seeing as how they are snatching up the Russo brothers, who’ve already helmed Winter Soldier, one of the most well-regarded films in the Avengers Universe, and will also be directing the next two Avengers films. However, the thinness of the source material and the fact that Sony bungled the Universe announcement by inadvertently creating a petty boy film vs. girl film mentality does not bode well.