Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

Ghostbusters 3

12/6/12 - Ghostbusters 3 is still being planned. Dan Aykroyd said recently that producers have agreed on a screenplay draft and are "closer than we've ever been" to making the film.  Iit does not include Bill Murray. Aykroyd said he no longer needs Murray's permission to make the film, despite his producer rights.  As for the actual draft, Aykroyd said that it would include new members of the Ghostbusters -- a "next generation" -- to whom he and co-star Harold Ramis would hand the ghost traps.  Source: The Hollywood Reporter

8/2/12 - Dan Aykroyd has long pursued making a third Ghostbusters film, but was in part stymied by series co-star Bill Murray's refusal to join in. In late February, Aykroyd admitted he couldn't get Murray to commit.  Instead, he's planned a whole new concept for the film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  "We've got a brilliant new writer on it and we'll be passing the torch on to a new generation," Aykroyd said. "We're working on it to make it just right to satisfy our fans. I'm confident we'll be in production in the next year."  As for Murray, he added, "It's sad but we're passing it on to a new generation. Ghostbusters 3 can be a successful movie without Bill. My preference would be to have him involved but at this point he doesn't seem to be coming and we have to move on. It's time to make the third one."

8/26/11 - Dan Aykroyd hinted Thursday that Ghostbusters the film could start shooting in the spring, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  He added that Bill Murray has not yet committed to the project, but he and the creatives behind the film are hoping Murray signs on to reprise his role from the first two films.  But, Aykroyd argued that the movie could go forward without Murray should he decide not to return.  "What we have to remember is that Ghostbusters is bigger than any one component, although Billy was absolutely the lead and contributive to it in a massive way, as was the director and Harold [Ramis], myself and Sigourney [Weaver]," he said. "The concept is much larger than any individual role and the promise of Ghostbusters 3 is that we get to hand the equipment and the franchise down to new blood."  The story line, according to Aykroyd, will center around the original Ghostbusters' inability to effectively bust ghosts anymore, so they set out to find new recruits.

2/15/10 – SCI FI Wire connected with Ivan Reitman on an update of Ghostbusters III.  "Certainly Sony has been all over us for about two decades now, trying to get this going," Reitman said. "We have this sort of very interesting deal in which we really control the forward progress of the movie. Sony did a very interesting thing: They actually hired these two writers on their own, without consulting us, and basically said, 'We're going to start.'"  Reitman said screenwriters Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky—best known for their work on NBC's The Office and the film Year One—are "very good writers, fortunately, and they wrote a first draft that was pretty good, considering that they didn't really talk to us that much. And I've since then been working with them for the last four or five months, just trying to get more of the kind of spirit of the film into it."  Reitman added: "There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm from everybody" about the return of original stars Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Sigourney Weaver.  Murray was long assumed to be the lone holdout from the original cast, sliming plans for sequels for years. But the actor recently suggested that he'd return to the role under one condition: that he gets to play a ghost.  "We're well aware of his interest," Reitman said with a chuckle when asked whether Murray's Venkman will be going ectoplasmic. "I've had some wonderful conversations with him—and that's all I'll say.

1/13/10 – According to Access Hollywood, Ivan Reitman will direct Ghostbusters 3.  "They have delivered a draft," Reitman said of writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky. "We are working our way through another draft... good work is being done and all of us have our fingers crossed."  Though he wouldn't comment on plot specifics, Ivan said fans have much to look forward to.  "There's some very cool things in the new draft, let's put it that way," he said.  Ghostbusters 3, which is expected to see a younger generation taking over from the original cast, will hopefully start shooting in this next year with a 2011 release likely.

12/14/09 - SCIFI Wire reported that Sigourney Weaver, who played Dana Barrett in the original Ghostbusters and its sequel, revealed she is being sent the script for a proposed third installment and offered up a few spoilery details about the film's story, though she hasn't made up her mind yet whether to take part. Weaver said: "I know that my little son Oscar has now grown up, and he's going to be a Ghostbuster. So I'm very proud of him. I don't know anything about it other than that, you know?" In 1989's Ghostbusters II, Weaver's character, Dana, has a baby son named Oscar, who figures prominently in the story. What about Dana's paramour, Peter Venkman, played by Bill Murray, and the other original Ghostbusters, played by Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson? "I hope the guys are in it," Weaver said. "They work so wonderfully together. And it'd be nice to introduce a whole new generation to Ghostbusters."

6/5/09 - Ivan Reitman, who directed Ghostbusters, told a Los Angeles audience that the time finally feels right to seriously develop the long-awaited, often-rumored Ghostbusters 3.  "We're going to get a screenplay in a short time," Reitman said Wednesday night. "We're going to see how it is. There's something in the zeitgeist of the world right now that it feels appropriate. There are some very talented people writing the screenplay. All of our fingers are crossed."

5/20/09 - Dan Aykroyd told the Los Angeles Times that a third Ghostbusters movie could begin shooting by this summer; that Sigourney Weaver is on board now, as are the original squad of Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson; and that the film could introduce a five-member "new generation" team with several female members, including possibly Alyssa Milano and Dollhouse's Eliza Dushku.

10/6/08 – SCIFI Wire reported that Bill Murray was open to reprising his Ghostbusters role of Dr. Peter Venkman in a proposed third movie.  Murray--who voiced Venkman in the upcoming Ghostbusters: The Video Game--added that he's aware that Columbia Pictures just last month tapped Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky (NBC's The Office) to write a second sequel.  "There's two fellows from The Office that are writing a script, but I've yet to see it," Murray said while promoting his upcoming family fantasy movie, City of Ember. "And I'm more involved with, you know, trying to get the dessert we ordered at lunch than I am with the new Ghostbusters sequel. But it's possible. It's a great idea that they hired these two guys to do it, because I think it'll be a ... it could be a fresh look at it. And it could be funny."  The original Ghostbusters was released in 1984 and is widely considered a comedy classic. The first sequel, Ghostbusters II, opened in 1989 and wasn't nearly as successful financially or critically.

9/8/08 - Harold Ramis, one of the original creators of Ghostbusters, wrote the Chicago Tribune to confirm details about a proposed third film.  "Yes, Columbia is developing a script for GB3 with my Year One writing partners, Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg," Ramis e-mailed the newspaper. "Judd Apatow is co-producing Year One and has made several other films for Sony, so of course the studio is hoping to tap into some of the same acting talent."  Ramis added that he and his Ghostbusters collaborators Dan Aykroyd and Ivan Reitman "are consulting at this point, and, according to Dan, Bill Murray is willing to be involved on some level. He did record his dialogue for the new Ghostbusters video game, as did Danny and I and Ernie Hudson."  As for their possible role in a third movie? "The concept is that the old Ghostbusters would appear in the film in some mentor capacity. Not much else to say at this point. Everyone is confident a decent script can be written, and I guess we'll take it from there."

9/5/08 - Columbia Pictures is setting up a new installment of its blockbuster Ghostbusters film franchise, hiring The Office co-executive producers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky to write a script, Variety reported.  The intent is to reunite the original cast of Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson.  The studio would not comment on the development and has been mum on recent rumors that there was interest in making another installment of the franchise.  The writers just wrote Year One, a comedy that was directed by Ramis. Ramis with Aykroyd wrote the first two Ghostbusters movies.  No deals will be made with the original cast until the script is ready.

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