The Ghostbusters remake may not have been able to claim the top slot at the box office this weekend, but it has still made around $46 million. It’s the biggest opening of any of director Paul Feig and star Melissa McCarthy’s collaborations to date, and Sony distribution boss Rory Bruer has indicated that a sequel is on the way.

Speaking to The Wrap this weekend, Bruer said: “The Ghostbusters world is alive and well. I expect Ghostbusters to become an important brand and franchise.

“While nothing has been officially announced yet, there’s no doubt in my mind [a sequel] will happen.”

As Bruer’s comments suggest, a direct sequel to Feig’s movie would be only part of an ongoing Ghostbusters franchise. A new animated show has already been announced. Titled Ghostbusters: Ecto Force, it is a futuristic series set in the year 2050 and is set for an early 2018 premiere.

However, one project that looks unlikely to happen is another all-male movie. It was rumoured last year that Sony were developing a parallel film with a crew of ghostbusting men, but Ivan Reitman, who directed the 1984 original and now oversees the franchise, denies it is being made.

“I was never involved in that, it was never real,” Reitman explained in an interview with The Globe and Mail. “There was a writer hired by the studio who did 30 pages, and it wasn’t very good. The biggest misconception was that we were creating a parallel film in case the girls version didn’t work out.

“But the only movie we were making was Paul’s movie. It never faltered.”