Making Sense of Ghostbusters 3

After 25 years, Ghostbusters 3 is not only on everyone's mind again, it seems like it's closer to becoming a reality than ever before. The problem is, nobody, not even the people involved, appear to know exactly what Ghostbusters 3 is. Is it a sequel? That seems likely. Is it a kind of side-quel (is that a word?) involving an all-female team? Maybe. Is it a reboot? We've heard that, too, although thankfully, that seems the least likely of the bunch. 

With all of this conflicting information floating around, we've brought everything together to try and give you a better idea of what's actually happening with Ghostbusters 3.

It's important to keep in mind that Ghostbusters 2 didn't quite set the world on fire the way its predecessor did. It took a few years for Ghostbusters 3 to emerge as a possibility, and once it did, the plan, virtually from the start, was to bring in a newer, younger, team. Remember, in the '90s, the word "reboot" meant nothing in terms of things like film (oh, how we long for those days). But the concept of the original team acting as mentors for a younger squad has remained a constant throughout.

The other constant? Bill Murray's general reticence to participate. He's called the constant inquiries about Ghostbusters 3"a nightmare"(say it in his Bunny from Ed Wood voice) and once joked that he would do it "if you kill me off in the first reel." Right. Rumors swirled that Sony wouldn't bite on another expensive Ghostbusters film without Murray's involvement. That makes things difficult.

Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent

Enter Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent, a screenplay written by Dan Aykroyd. There's a detailed breakdown of this version that you can read here. The short version is that it involved Manhattan getting turned into hell. We don't suppose that's a gentrification metaphor, but whatever.

It's worth noting that two of the proposed new Ghostbusters in this script were female, something which has once again popped up in connection with the franchise in recent months. At one point in 2007, Aykroyd suggested that Hellbentcould be done with computer animation to make it a little easier to produce...and possibly to entice Bill Murray to lend his voice to it.

The Cast and Crew

Since the plan seems never to have been a Blues Brothers style Ghostbustersreunion, any number of comedic actors have been mentioned in passing connection with Ghostbusters 3. A few notables through the years include Michael Cera, Jack Black, Jonah Hill, Eliza Dushku, Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Bill Hader, Emma Stone...it goes on and on. 

It seemed the plan was always for Ivan Reitman to return to the director's chair, but he bowed out in the aftermath of Harold Ramis' untimely death, albeit he remains on as a producer. Lego Movie and 22 Jump Street directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were offered the project, but turned it down, as did Zombieland's Reuben Fleischer.

The Other Ghostbusters Movie

And then there's the Paul Feig Ghostbustersmovie. The plan for this one would be to have an all-female team, utilizing prominent comedic actresses. As you might expect, fedora wearing sexists throughout the internet were profoundly unhappy with this development because, of course, the only thing less realistic than a group of dudes capturing and containing the spirits of the dead is having women do it.

If nothing else, this one got Bill Murray's attention...probably because it's the first version of the project that would allow him to be left in peace. His suggestions for the team included Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Linda Cardellini, and Emma Stone. "I would go to that movie," said Murray. So would we. It's probably no coincidence that many of these actresses have worked with Feig in the past, so it's come canny speculation by Mr. Murray.

As this particular version of the movie may or may not actually be Ghostbusters 3 and could just exist alongside it, that brings us to Dan Aykroyd's recent comments, which indicate that he and Sony are discussing a Marvel-style universe approach to the Ghostbusters world. "Taking on the model of Marvel where we take all of the elements that are in this movie and we put them out there as different ideas," was what he said, which, while ambitious, at least makes a little more sense than some of the para-psychobabble that has often peppered his discussion of potential Ghostbusters 3 plots.

The Release Date

Hahahahahahahaaa! Sorry.

We've been hearing that production will start on Ghostbusters 3 approximately every other year for the last decade or so. Several months ago, Ivan Reitman said there were plans to shoot in "early 2015." Although a recent chat he had with Winston Zeddemore/Ernie Hudson sounded a little less than optimistic about when it might actually go into production.

Essentially, it's quite possible that we're no closer to Ghostbusters 3 than we were two years, five years, or ten years ago. No matter how much noise is made about the project from folks close to it, it's all been said in one form or another before. At this point, actually seeing Ghostbusters 3 might be only slightly more likely than spotting an actual ghost. That being said, the reluctance to go the remake/reboot route is encouraging. In a somewhat meta sense, the Ghostbusters themselves are a business, and there's something to be said for that business becoming a franchise and introducing new characters rather than starting fresh.

*** We owe a debt of thanks to this Vulturearticle, which compiled nearly every bit of Ghostbusters 3 news and rumor of the last two decades in chronological order. ***

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