It may have been stuck in development hell since the early 90s, but Ghostbusters 3 could finally be turning into a reality with Paul Feig the frontrunner to create a new group of Ghostbusters with an all-female cast. But if original Ghostbuster and writer Dan Aykroyd has anything to say about it, that will just be the first step.
While over in London to promote his brand of Crystal Head Vodka, Aykroyd said, “It’s beyond just another sequel, a prequel, another TV show. I’m thinking what does the whole brand mean to Sony? What does Pixar and Star Wars mean to Disney? What does Marvel [mean to Disney]?”
According to Aykroyd, he and Ivan Reitman are looking at the next 10 years of Ghostbusters movies and that the focus are, “not just another movie or another TV show, but what’s the totality of it? The whole mythology from the beginning of their lives, the end of their lives. Ghostbusters at nine years old, Ghostbusters in high school.”
“It’s up on blocks, it needs new electronics, new everything,” Aykroyd said using the Ghostbusters’ Ecto-1 as an analogy. “That’s what we have to do. The whole vehicle of Ghostbusters has to be rebuilt. That’s the ambitious thinking that’s going on now. 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.”
The idea of “Marvel-style” universes seems to be the “in thing” right now with Warner Bros doing it with their DC properties and Sylvester Stallone wanting to do it with The Expendables franchise.
When asked about the female-led Ghostbusters, which has had a ringing endorsement from original Ghostbuster Bill Murray, Aykroyd said, “we need to write it”.
How do you feel about Ghostbusters stretching into expanded universe territory?
Originally published September 17, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
