Last month saw a new twist in the seemingly never-ending saga of Ghostbusters 3 when it was announced that Sony had called Etan Cohen (Tropic Thunder, Men in Black 3) to deliver a new script for the long-mooted third instalment of the Ghostbusters franchise. At the time, it was reported that cast members Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Bill Murray were all open to a return for this latest stab at the sequel; however, speaking to the UK’s Metro newspaper, Aykroyd has confirmed that the Ghostbusters roster will be down one member in Peter Venkman, which shouldn’t really come as a surprise to anyone given Bill Murray’s stance towards the project over the years:
“I can tell you he won’t be involved,” replied Aykroyd when asked if Murray would be involved in the third movie. “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.” Time indeed, with Ghostbusters 3 now spending close to quarter of a century in development hell, but according to Aykroyd, this time they might have finally cracked it: “We’ve tried a few concepts which weren’t right but now we’ve got a good structure and will make it happen… 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.”
Still, with Murray out, is there really any point to a third Ghostbusters movie? I feel dirty just saying this, but maybe its time for Sony to bite the bullet and deliver a straight-up reboot.
Originally published August 2, 2012. Updated December 6, 2019.
