Ghostbusters III — Archived Timeline

An interesting item from the DMZ.
In a recent interview with The Daily Telegraph (a Sydney, Australia newspaper) Harold Ramis poked a little fun at the exaggerated hype surrounding a possible third installment to the Ghostbusters series.
When asked if he had any suggestions who should star in a third movie, Ramis quipped;
“Sure, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Will Smith.”
Yank, yank. For anyone who doesn’t get it, that’s Ramis pulling your leg.
For the full interview, go to The Demilitarized Zone. Nice catch Rick!

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Dvdreview.com has scored an excellent interview with Harold Ramis.
Thanks to big Dave G. for the tip!

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While acting as parade co-marshall at the 72nd Shennandoah Apple Blossom Festival (Virginia) with his wife Donna Dixon (Dixon is from Virginia), Dan Aykroyd confirmed the same old Ghostbusters 3 news.

There’s a script that Aykroyd, Ivan Reitman, and Harold Ramis are working on. Business matters are being looked into with Sony. Ghostbusters 3 will take Ghostbusters into “the next generation”. None is this expands on anything we’ve already heard.

Bear in mind that the festival was this past spring, and Aykroyd’s statement is five months old. You’ll recall that Ramis and Aykroyd made similar statements in the months prior to the festival. Still, a confirmation is a confirmation.

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While most GB fans realised that it was unrealistic to hope for a sequel to Ghostbusters anytime soon, the few who still had high hopes were crushed today by Dan Aykroyd’s interview on Access Hollywood.

“It doesn’t look good right now, and I’m sorry to say that.”, said Aykroyd.

Basically the interview confirmed that;

* Aykroyd’s relations with Sony were sour that that after 10 years of working with them (indirectly through Columbia) he would be moving his offices off the studio lot.
* That a sequel would cost an estimated $120 Million US to produce.
* That Sony turned cold on the idea of a sequel in the wake of the indie hit The Blair Witch Project.
* There would be no hope of a rival studio making the sequel since Sony holds the rights to the movie.
* The Ghostbusters franchise has grossed over $1.5 Billion US worldwide and that third sequel could bring in as much as another $500 Million.

Aykroyd said that he wasn’t angry over the matter, rather he was “resigned and passionate”. His suggestion to Sony was simple;

“Sometimes you have to seed for the big harvest to come in.”

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In a recent interview with Empire magazine, Sigourney Weaver spoke briefly about the possibility of new films in the Aliens and Ghostbusters series. Forecast? Sucky.

“As for a [Ghostbusters] Part 3, that’s highly unlikely, I think our bustin’ days are long gone – we’d be a very sorry bunch of very old ghostbusters now.”

A fairly good point actually.

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This is basically an new comment on an old issue – at a recent press conference for his new movie Analyze That, Harold Ramis was asked to comment on a possible third GB installment. His answer was both funny (with Analyze That star Billy Crystal chiming in) and predictable, commenting yet again on the plan to introduce new busters and how Murray, who does not want a third movie, has become “obstructionist”. No new news, but a sad confirmation, yet again.

credit | Albert Roberts

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I mentioned about a month ago that Filmforce had a peek at the GB3 script and had a few thoughts on it. Well, not content with that, I’ve gotten a look at it my self. As was originally reported, the script is more premise than jokes, with Aykroyd going into great detail about various science gimmicks and the nature of the afterlife. The inclusion of Harold Ramis and Ivan Reitman to help fill out later version of the script and the rest of the cast to help bring their sense of humor to the set (such as Bill Murray’s ad-libbing) obviously played a much larger role in the first two movies than I’d imgagined, as Aykroyd uses the first draft to indugle his love of techno-babble and fringe theory. You can’t judge a book by its cover and you can’t judge a movie by its first draft, but it does make for dry reading.

There a lot in the script and I don’t want to detail it all as frankly that would just spoil the surprise on the off chance the third movie ever goes ahead. You can have a look at the Filmforce link above for Stax’s excellent report. There are only a few things I will add right now (though there may be more I think to add later)

After all these years, Aykroyd has made Ghostbusters a full blown corporation, with dozens of employees, including mechanics to look after the fleet of converted ambulances; one scene echoes the shot of the Ecto-1 driving across the Brooklyn Bridge, only this time there’s a whole line. They’ve also built themselves the Ecto-50, a converted truck with (if I understand correctly) its own containment unit. Winston is in fact a doctor, but it doesn’t feel quite right, as if the normal guy we identified with was now indistinguishable from the rest of the team – having him working on his degrees would have been cool, while still keeping him a tad more down to earth than Egon and Ray. Venkman is noticably absent for most of the movie, a concession I’m assuming to the fact that Murray didn’t want to do another GB installment. If I come across anything else that I think will turn your crank while not giving the story away, I’ll post it here.

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Well, I missed the San Diego Comic Con this year and statistically, you probably did as well. Too bad, cause it was a
great year. To begin with, Ernie Hudson was at the con – Bryan Fear and co. as well as the madmen that put the Ghostbusters
comic together, all got to meet Mr. Hudson, who looks like he could do a third movie tomorrow!

Blond, Ernie Hudson, Steve Kurth, Serge LaPointe.

Bryan Fear (far right) and co. meet Ernie

Lucky ducks at the con got to pick up the con exclusive GB comics from 88mph Studios
and chat with the creative gang. Bryan and company not only got to meet an Elvis Ghostbuster
and Zuul (haaawt), but were stopped by Ray Bradbury who asked to have his picture taken
with them… HOW COOL IS THAT? Netsolo was in attendance (cuz the lucky Joe lives within driving
distance) and has a great shot of him and Mr. Fear.

And in other news, issue two of the Ghostbusters comic (both covers) hit the shelves just
before the con (hence the copy in Ernie’s hand) and reports are coming in that the
NECA action figures have started appearing on store shelves, though there seems to be some
hold up for most stores (thanks to Josh Look for the 411).

Yeah! I should have made my URL bigger on the sticker, but it’s still
damn cool.

“She’s not my girlfriend… I respect her as a client.”

Maaaan. What a year to miss the con.

Master Bradbury stops for a picture.

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While speaking to Latino Review about his part in the upcoming Christamas comedy, Christmas With the Kranks, Dan Ayrkoyd was
asked, again, about Ghostbusters 3, to which he outlined mostly stuff we already knew. The only new twist is that
after working on an early draft of a third film with Aykroyd, it’s suggested that Harold Ramis has apparently joined the
not-interested camp. Whatever the case, it continues to look like GB3 isn’t happening anytime soon.

Aykroyd will be appearing on Conan O’Brien tomorrow night (Wednesday the 17th) to talk more about The Kranks (thanks to
Raysgal for spotting that one.)

| credit Bryan Hathaway

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With his new movie just about to come out, Harold Ramis gave a great interview to In Focus magazine. Ramis talks a lot about directing and writing, Ice Harvest, and his past films, including Ghostbusters 3.

“So my notion was that Hell exists simultaneously, and in the same place as our consensus reality. But it’s like a film shutter – it’s the darkness between the 24 frames. When we’re blinking on, they’re off – so we blink alternately with this other reality, which is Hell. So all the Ghostbusters would need to do [to go to Hell] is take themselves ‘out of phase’ one beat.”

This is probably the best overview of the GB3 script, as I read it. While it doesn’t provide much extra detail, it does tell you exactly what the plan was, had the third movie gone ahead.

credit | thanks to Ghosthead Nick

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On the basis of Harold Ramis’ few comments in his recent In Focus interview (see below), Hollywood.com has decided that GB3 is back in the running. This in turn was picked up by a lot of other sites (I’m looking at you blogosphere), which means that everyone will begin to think it’s true. However, based on Harold’s comments, GB3 is still stuck going nowhere.

You only have to read the In Focus comments to see that Ramis was talking past tense about the script and the plans he and Aykroyd had a few years ago – he wasn’t talking about now.

“I’ve read that you had a next-gen cast in mind. If you were casting those roles today, who would play the younger Ghostbusters?

Well, we had Chris Farley as one of them, Ben Stiller as one of them. It was a while ago.”

I’d like a new movie as much as you, but let’s not get carried away. This isn’t a new script and while the idea of Stiller is unique, it’s still old news about a proposed idea, not current fact.

[UPDATE] I’ve gotten two reports that the rumour-as-fact has now spread to at least one TV entertainment program and in the UK, a radio station has apparently announced that Charlotte Church will play the lead female role.

I’d like to remind people that these days, TV entertainment / radio stations just read off the internet. Plus, it’s been established for awhile that Church was a Ghostbusters fan as a kid. It’s an interesting mutation strain to the story, but it doesn’t change anything.

[UPDATE] MSN has adopted the story, apparently through CP (Canadian Press.) When a supposed serious news portal adopts it as true, you know it’s going to live for a long time. Interesting to note that Ramis is quoted as saying he’s a “huge fan” of Stiller. Ramis says no such thing in the original interview. Yahoo News is also awash in GB3 stories – the problem here is that as a portal, Yahoo News has the vaneer of respectable, even reporting AP/CP/etc news, but combining it with their search engine, which spits back “news” from most middling sources. Here’s another bit of “quoting”;

MSN report, attributed to Ramis – “When the Ghostbusters step out of this portal, it looks just like New York but it’s hell.”

Actual Ramis quote – “And when we step out of the chamber, it looks just like New York, but it’s Hell.”

So, yes, the facts are the same, I just always assumed quotes were, you know, accurate.

[UPDATE]There’s an interview from about a week and a half ago – Ramis was in Austin for the film festival. The interview is short and lightly touches on Ghostbusters, but not a third movie. Later, Stiller is mentioned as part of the new generation of comedy filmmakers (again, Ramis never says he loves him.) And later still, Ramis mentions he’s developing a property for Owen Wilson. I predict the Stiller/GB3 news will roll in Wilson soon enough (especially as the two have starred together before.) You heard it here first – but don’t believe the hype.

[UPDATE] Who the Hell (pun intended) is WENN? I initially blamed Hollywood.com for this mess, but Yahoo News UK has picked up the story, and it’s attributed to WENN as well. I looked it up (you know, using the Internet to fact-check) and it’s the World Entertainment News Network. So, now I know who to blame – one subscription news service, who bent the news to make it tastier, and we have a lie.

You know, I’m not that old, but I do remember a time when the new services at least TRIED to keep the wires clean (if only so they wouldn’t have to clean up the mess later.)

Well, I’m looking at you WENN. You got it wrong. Can you set it right?

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After helping to spark that painful bout of GB3 rumours, Ain’t It Cool News has a new interview with Harold Ramis at the Austin Film Festival – the piece talks a great deal about his new movie, Ice Harvest (opening November 23rd), a bit about early work with a pre-SNL Bill Murray (very interesting), and a small amount about Ghostbusters 3, which covers everything we’ve heard before. Ramis’ last words on the matter confirm what a lot of people always suspected;

“In the end, it sounds greedy, but the deal couldn’t be made. We as an entity… Me… well, I’m low man on that totem pole deal-wise, but Ivan, Bill, Danny and me couldn’t make a deal with the studio. There wasn’t enough left for the studio.

And I can’t say my heart was really in it, you know… making the third one.”

credit | 88mph Studios

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It’s a lot of the same stuff we read in his last interview, but while promoting the release of Ice Harvest on DVD, Harold Ramis does further outline the biggest problem getting GB3 made – the cost to make would outstrip returns. And when there are no returns, no studio will foot the bill.

What’s most interesting about the interview is that they cast a wide net to include websites, but stuck him with a studio rep to monitor the interview. Sheesh.

credit | MilesEB

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E.Y. sent in a link to IGN, that references that awful WENN news item from last year. Stax has read the GB3 script, so his article is a lot more level headed, but he still picked up on the Ben Stiller item, which is so old as not to be credible any more.

UPDATE – Oh good, it’s starting all over.
In the wake of IGN’s post regarding GB3, Contactmusic.com has boiled the entire article down to a couple of dozen words, which comes out as “Aykroyd pens GB3 script, Bill Murray to be replaced by Ben Stiller.” This is turn get’s picked up by a dozen blogs, who are now reporting that Ben Stiller is replacing Bill Murray, which isn’t what the original article said at all.

I hate the internet.

UPDATE – I’d like to initiate Cinescape and the Internet Movie Database into the Too Lazy To Research club. Well done lads. Thanks for helping sort things out.

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No more emails about the IGN / Contactmusic.com / some blog that references either IGN or Contactmusic.com news item about GB3. It’s bogus. They have a script. They did think about Ben Stiller starring at one point. Harold Ramis is not sitting at home sewing the new costumes right this second.

It’s pure, internet sensationalism, and it’s not valid.

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Dan Aykroyd was briefly on CTV today, as eTalk Daily visited him on a photoshoot at his new Ontario vineyard (the photos will accompany a cover feature on Air Canada’s En Route magazine. The segment was short, but to the point. In just over one minute, Aykroyd confirmed that he’s shifting his focus away from acting into business ventures, that GB3 is not going to be made, and that all those reports and quotes about GB3, attributed to Harold Ramis, are false.

[UPDATE] There’s a YouTube version of the clip as well.

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While promoting his new movie, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Reitman was inevitably asked about GB3. His reply was not encouraging, but at least it shows that if the monumental hoops involved could be jumped through, he would look forward to the chance to work with the co-stars again.

[Dan Aykroyd] has written a draft of something, but I think there are some sort of technical problems that have basically frozen the rights. We’re trying to do something about it now, but who knows? What makes me nostalgic for ‘Ghostbusters’ is to work with Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis; that was the joy of working on ‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘Ghostbusters II. They’ve become old friends. That’s what you miss. It’s not staging a marshmallow man walking down Columbus Circle; that’s a pain in the ass. It’s much better getting [the actors] all in a room and doing something funny.”

Don’t get too excited – this is essentially a confirmation of common knowledge – that the rights to Ghostbusters are extremely complicated. And with Aykroyd and Ramis not currently interested in pushing to clear matters up, the movie remains a big “maybe.” Still, it’s nice to know that Reitman still has some fondness for the franchise.

We’ll assume he’d like to work with Ernie Hudson again as well.

credit | Megan

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Promoting Snoop Dogg’s new horror film, Snoop Dogg Hood of Horror (say that five times fast), Ernie Hudson was inevitably asked about GB3 and gave a familiar answer.

“I’ve been hearing about Ghostbusters 3 for 20 years… Harold would love to [do it] and Dan would… Bill is the hold-out.”

This has been a stock answer for ten years now, but again, it’s always nice to hear that the gang is still willing, should production ever begin.

credit | Megan

[update] Whoops. The IGN writer credited Harold Ramis with being the director of both the movies. But everything you read online is cold, hard fact, right Patrick?

[update] Some quick fact checking took place, and the article now lists Ramis as co-star.

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Ernie Hudson will be on hand for a special presentation of Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror film. If you live in or near San Jose, you can see the man this weekend at Fangoria’s Weekend of Horror.

thx to Beezer

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Mike McGuire at CISN Country 103.9 in Edmonton got to interview Dan Aykroyd, who talked about GB3 as being in the talking stage, and the plan is for it to be CGI, sans Bill Murray and his likeness. So, some clarification is needed to make sense of these facts.

PART TWO IS THE GHOSTBUSTERS PORTION – however, the entire interview is great.

Thanks to Mike for the heads up – nice work man!

[UPDATE] Still working through the interview – it’s hard to listen while at work. But this is from Mike’s CISN blog post;

The hilight of the interview had to be when he confirmed that Ghostbusters III is in the works – albeit CGI, but Bill Murray has agreed to voice, so the authenticity (should) still be there!!!

Boy, aren’t Fridays like this exciting.

[UPDATE 2] Oh, and Mike. Stop sounding like me. Curse that Canadian twang.

[UPDATE 3] Nope, he’s talking about a movie. Seperate from the game. Still lots of details to fill in, and until a studio makes an announcement this isn’t official, but it’s very encouraging.

Transcript after the jump, thanks to Steve.

One thing I have to ask, and I’m gonna break these out one by one, I know you talked about it on TV, but the Internet still buzzes about it all the time, I grew up with Dan Aykroyd as Dr. Raymond Stantz.

Uh-huh, yes yes.

I think you know what the question is going to be and unfortunately I think I know the answer too, but everyone is dying to know: Ghostbusters III–we’ve heard tons of rumors about it, does this thing exist?

Well, I wrote a script called Hellbent, uh, Ghostbusters go to Hell, basically its–the premise is that its Manhellton–that there’s Manhattan and Mannhelton. And if you can basically, build a phase–an interdimensional phase system, so that you can go from one dimension to another, we’ve succeeded in doing that, and we go to the Hell side of Manhattan. Which, Downtown, Foley Square its all where the cops are, its they’re all blue minotaurs. Uh the uh–Central Park is this huge deep mine with green demons there, surrounded by, you know, black onyx 1000 foot high apartment buildings with uh classic red devils, you know, very wealthy, and we go and visit like a Donald Trump like character who’s Mr. Sifler, you know, Luke Sifler, LukeSifler, Luk–so its it and we meet the devil in it. Now it won’t happen as a live action cuz Billy will not come onto the live stage anymore for it, but he will voice his part, and we’re looking to do it as a CGI animated project.

Really? Yeah? SO Ghostbusters III…

It lives! It lives today!

Wow.

Last year, last year it didn’t–this year it lives.

That is great news.

Yeah, that’d be good, because, you know, with that, with CGI animation and the way these uh, these cartoons are done, we can just do everything that I ever wrote in that script for much less money.

That is great news.

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I should learn to go with my first instinct – given how close together Dan Aykroyd was talking about GB3, a GB video game, and how GB3 would be CGI, I initially assumed that he might have meant GB3 would be a video game. After hearing him on the radio interview, I second quessed myself.

And now, I’m going back to my original supposition – according to more talk from Aykroyd, GB3 will be a video game.

[UPDATE]
Go to the 6 minute mark for Dan’s comments on Ghostbusters.

“More of a chance to see the video game in ’08.”

Aykroyd expands on the rumours, suggesting that it is in production, and will be available in “all formats.” Though I doubt the all formats part, it’s certainly well understood that GB game needs to be on most major platforms to succeed as best possible. I run a GB website, and even I’m not prepared to buy a PS3 to play a GB game.

Clip on YouTube (for anyone having trouble with the Windows Media version above)

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Attending the Vail Film Festival (where he won a career award), Harold Ramis was interviewed by the local paper, and was as you’d expect, instantly asked about a third Ghostbusters. Ramis confirmed that the live-action option with the original actors is “slim”, and that he and Aykroyd have discussed a CGI film with Columbia, making it a possibility, but far from confirmed.

However, he did back-up Aykroyd’s earlier comments about there being a video game.

Harold Ramis: […] The only thing I know for sure is there is a video game coming out that Danny and I are going to do the voices for. So that’ll be fun.

CS: When will that happen?

HR: We haven’t recorded yet, but they’ve showed me all the animations for the game and the game settings and the characters. It’s all in the works now. I guess it’s a long development period on games and very expensive – they invest a lot of money in these things.

So, the video game is more than just Aykroyd hint dropping, both he and Ramis are providing voices (as you’d suspect, no mention of Bill Murray, but surprisingly also no mention of Ernie Hudson), and it’s already in the early production phase (which puts it in line with Aykroyd’s suggestion that it would be out in 2008.)

Gold star to Italian Raymond for the spot.

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Thanks to 9sam1 for the catch.

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Showing that the press is terrible at asking good questions, Jason Reitman spoke to MTV about how often he gets asked if he’d ever direct a Ghostbusters film.

“It would be the most boring ‘Ghostbusters’ movie of all time. There would be no ghost busting,” laughed the red-hot 30-year-old, who broke out in 2005 with “Thank You for Smoking.” “I like making really small, personal movies. When I read ‘Juno,’ I just thought it was iconic. And ‘Ghostbusters’ is iconic, but it’s my dad’s, and I don’t think I can touch that.”

But, entertaining the notion of what he’d do with Drs. Venkman, Stantz and Spengler (and, yes, Winston), Reitman added: “My [’Ghostbusters 3′] would just be guys talking about ghosts, really. ‘You hear about that ghost? Spooky stuff!’ and then the other guy would be like, ‘Yeah.’ ”

Actually, I’d go see that.

Press! Ask the man more questions about Juno! It deserves the attention. And that’s coming from a guy that eats, breaths, and sleeps Ghostbusters.

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Ernie Hudson talked Ghostbusters at a recent interview and in addition to making all the usual comments on the game, he expresses a regret that the stars didn’t voice the Real Ghostbusters cartoon. The article also mentions that Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis are still interested in making a third movie. This isn’t terribly startling news – they’ve always said they wanted to do another – but what was interesting was that the article states Ramis and Aykroyd apparently have a fourth script already worked out!

Thanks to Nevil for the heads up.

[update] Initially the fourth script seemed attributed to Hudson during the interview, but with a careful read it seems more like a random statement by the interviewer without collaboration.

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Take a deep breath, Patrick.

In a recent interview with Premiere magazine, interviewer Ryan Stewart asked Sigourney Weaver about the possibility of a 3D animated Ghostbusters. Her answer, which he posted on his blog (presumably because it won’t be included in the final print interview) wasn’t encouraging for those looking forward to a little CGI ghost busting.

When I pointed out that the film industry’s renewed focus on next-gen 3D imagery and CG-rendered worlds means that perhaps a third Ghostbusters adventure is still feasible, Weaver looked at me a bit like I had just given her a toothache. She then took a big breath and said “Well, I just saw Ivan Reitman at this dinner, this lunch for his son, and, ummm, there’s no way.”

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Sean Grady go the chance to conduct a video interview with Dan Aykroyd when he was recently in town to promote his line of wines. The interview was short, but Sean did get some good questions in and Dan gave some good answers back.

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Dan Aykroyd recently had some questions put to him while opening a new House of Blues – it was short, sweet, and not entirely about Ghostbusters, but The Question always makes it in there, doesn’t it?

The Day: “Will there ever be a Ghostbusters III?”

Aykroyd: “You know … in October, we are releasing the Ghostbusters video game, and it’s really the third movie … I’ve been writing on it and working with the gang, and they’ve come up with a wonderful story. So … if you want to see Ghostbusters 3, it’s the game. It’s really, really good. And it’s a family game. We’re not killing anybody. We’re only sending entities back to where they came from.”

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I was so distracted by the implications of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull being deliberately kept off the front page summary of Rotten Tomatoes, I didn’t notice the Indy related article on sequels the RT staff is still waiting on, with this particular, familiar entry.

Thanks to Chris for the heads up!

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In the wake of Return of the Ghostbusters, there are a handful of other fanfilms headed to completion. One of them, Ghostbusters: Hellbent, has its first trailer online now. Check it out.

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James attended Collectormania Glasgow this weekend, and sat in on a Q&A; with Ernie Hudson. According to James, when asked about the upcoming game, Hudson mentioned that Winston is now a Doctor in his own right – which means Dan Aykroyd has been lifting bits from his original Ghostbusters 3 script. If I recall correctly, Winston studied Engineering. Which begs the question, what else has he lifted?

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NOTE: Aykroyd is on camera saying that “purportedly” two script writers are working on a GB3 script. Variety, which one would assume has excellent industry contacts, echos Aykroyd’s comments, but says that Columbia is refusing comment, and they give no hint of where they got their info, so while interesting, this is still considered unofficial.

To all of you that sent in the links, thanks – I can’t thank you all, as it would take me all day just to compile that list, but I appreciate it. Same goes to all of you that sent in the Aykroyd video clip. And those of you that posted it in random comments, please don’t do that.

Basically, over the weekend, Dan Aykroyd was ambushed by E! at one of his Patron appearances and asked about Ghostbusters 3. Always one to talk up the possibilities of a third installment, Dan dropped a few tantalizing tidbits, and expressed his interest in possibly working with some of today’s young comedy stars (most likely due to the recent, pie-in-the-sky rumours that various mixed and matched members of Judd Apatow’s stable would star.)

Anyhow, just when you thought that was our yearly tease by Dan, Variety magazine has reported that Columbia Pictures has commissioned a Ghostbusters 3 script from the writer/producers of the US version of The Office, Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky. Eisenberg and Stupnitsky currently have ties to Harold Ramis, having worked on a script for him.

This is exciting stuff, but is far from a sure thing. Variety reports that currently there is no solution to the gross percentages the principles are entitled to, something which has hampered such a deal in the past. Basically Sony limits gross percentages to 25%, whereas the percentages contracted to the Ghostbusters principles made prior to Sony acquiring Columbia, exceed that amount. Plus, hey, isn’t Dan on the outs with Columbia over Ghostbusters? Are they pals again, now that Columbia is taking baby-steps to get it rolling?

There’s a fine line between not getting a sequel and someone writing a script for a sequel, and someone sneezing at Sony could knock everything back into the not-getting-made catagory, but hey, this is the first REAL steps towards a sequel since it was announced, oh so many years ago, that Ramis and Aykroyd had created a first draft for a third movie.

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And regardless, it’s still a long way from the movie getting a greenlight.

Harold Ramis has apparently contacted his hometown paper, the Chicago Tribune, to say that the “purported” script Dan Aykroyd had mentioned was in fact real. He also confirmed that there is a high level of interest at Sony to tap into the Judd Apatow comedy machine, and that the original Ghostbusters would appear in a support role. But as before, this is just a script. There are a lot of parties involved that have to like it, so as I’ve said before, this is encouraging movement towards a third movie, but it is still not a lock. We’ll save that celebration for someone saying the movie is go.

yes, columbia is developing a script for GB3 with my year one writing partners, gene stupnitsky and lee eisenberg. 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. aykroyd, ivan reitman and i 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. 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.
best,
harold

Boy, Ramis really hate his shift-key. In this instance, we’re depending on the word of the Tribune writer that he actually got an email from Harold Ramis, and didn’t get flim-flammed by someone who knows how to spoof an email. The diction isn’t bad, so for now I’ll post this, but wear my skeptic face.

Mr. Ramis, feel free to email me, eh?

Thanks to Chuck for the heads up.

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Steve Gustafson: Fiction. Many of you will scream, “Sacrilege!,” but I love Ghostbusters and would welcome a new movie. It’s not like the first two are untouchable holy canon. It’s dudes fighting ghosts! The potential is endless. WAIT! Let me make a note. I’m NOT down if they bring in Steve Carrell, Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd, and Jonah Hill. I’m a fan of them but it wouldn’t be a Ghostbuster movie anymore. It would be the Knocked Up Virgin Pineapple . And yes, I know that sounds hypocritical after my Will Smith argument but I’m sticking to it!

Jordan Bruns: Fact. Just because Indiana Jones had a successful resurrection after a 19-year layoff doesn’t mean the Ghostbusters will fare the same. If this was meant to be an ongoing series, they should have done it while the cast was still young enough to be believable in their roles. Who really wants to see a bunch of 60-year-old men hunting ghosts? That explains why they’re going with the whole “passing of the torch” storyline. But seriously… the original Ghostbusters mentoring a younger group? Are you kidding me? I’m not saying that’s not an amusing concept, but I’m not paying ten bucks to sit through two hours of it. I know a lot of people who like Ghostbusters but I’ve never heard anyone say “I wish they’d make a third one.” The simple fact is I just don’t think there’s enough public demand for Ghostbusters III to make it successful.

Final Score: 3 for 6

Read their entire article, with all their debates, here.

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Making a surprise appearance at Fantastic Fest 2008 to promote City of Amber (in which he plays the Mayor), Bill Murray got questioned (by Ain’t It Cool News, if I understand correctly) about doing a Ghostbusters 3. His answer was funny, but guarded. But not as guarded as I would have expected. He also talks favorably about the upcoming game. It’s not any real new information, unless you count the fact that he isn’t totally against the idea of a third movie, but it rare commentary from Bill Murray on the matter. We hear from Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, and even Ivan Reitman all the time, but it’s a treat to get to hear from Bill.

I’m using the official, full clip from Fantastic Fest, but if you want to skip through, the GB parts start at 5 minutes.

Thanks to Daryn (who got it in first) and and the dozens of others of you that sent in the YouTube, MySpace, and AICN links – great stuff!

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A big thanks to the hundreds of you that sent in a wild flurry of links about Bill Murray talking up Ghostbusters 3. For the most part, they either cover his City of Ember press conference comments (featured here earlier), or they covered Murray out promoting City of Ember elsewhere, but saying much the same thing. For now, we’ll just consider it the same comments as before, except for this interesting exchange with MTV;

MTV: Do you like the idea of potentially passing on to a new crop of Ghostbusters?

Murray: Well, I think it’d be funny to have a girl Ghostbuster. We don’t have a girl Ghostbuster. I mean, they say like, “What if you passed it to Chris Rock?” And I go “Well, I dunno. Is Chris Rock gonna save us?” You know, I guess. He’s funny.

MTV: You want Dana Barrett to have a proton pack — is that what you’re saying?

Murray: No, I just think there’s some funny girls I’d love to see be Ghostbusters.

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I forgot – Matthew also sent this clip link in earlier, wherein Hudson talks up Ghostbusters, a third movie, and shows he really really really likes that t-shirt.

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John DiBiase sent in a heads-up that the latest issue of Empire Magazine (who recently put Ghostbusters inside the top 200 of their top 500 films of all time) have a bit of a tease on their front cover – “Ghostbusters 3: News That Makes You Feel Good”

Now, there’s been a lot of chatter out there about Ghostbusters 3, all of it amounting to, “Great idea, but nobody’s said yes.” It could be that the game getting re-picked up, plus all the positive talk about a third movie (including no-more-sequel stalwarts like Bill Murray) are the only thing this article has to say. But then, maybe they’ve got a little more to add to the discussion – if anybody finds the article, let the rest of us know what the deal is!

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So, is all the excitement over the Ghostbusters video game helping generate buzz for a third movie? Looks like it, as MTV sat down to talk to Sigourney Weaver.

This afternoon I got chance to chat with Dana Barrett herself and yes, Ms. Sigourney Weaver is well aware of the chatter. “I’ve heard about it,” she said, adding “I’m supposed to get in touch with Bill [Murray] next week.”

Weaver called Murray’s potential involvement “great” and said she’s wondering if he thinks Dana ended up with Venkman. “Does he think we got married or something?” she laughed. Weaver wasn’t sure if there was a place for her in the story but she did think someone deserves a spot. “I would hope that my little Oscar would be one of the Ghostbusters even if I’m not in it!”

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In Boston to promote a new House of Blues, Dan Aykroyd answered some online questions for the Boston Globe – as is typical, the first question asked was about Ghostbusters 3

[Comment From Tom] Dan, I’m extremely excited for the HOB to be back in its birth-city!! I will be attending many shows. On a side note, and I’m sure you get these questions a lot, so I apologize in advance…Ghostbusters 3? I’ve heard that the writers of the Office are currently penning a script? How is this coming along, and should we look forward to this movie seeing the light of day? Thanks Dan!

Dan Aykroyd: Script is commenced early summer. Hope to be in production by late fall 2009

What’s it mean? Well, it doesn’t mean a Ghostbusters 3 is a sure thing. It means that if all goes well, the script commissioned last year will hopefully get the green light by around June, and if that happens, then hopefully the movie will go into production in the Fall. So, excellent to hear Dan is still pushing forward with the film, but it’s still not a done deal yet. Thanks Andreas!

[UPDATE] Big ups to Ain’t It Cool News for helping spread the story, even if they’re not promoting Proton Charging (cut and paste is a privilege, not a right.)

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Following on the heels of last week’s online chat assertion that a third Ghostbusters script will be done by June, and with luck production to follow, Dan continues to talk up a third Ghostbusters by 2010. This time he sat down with Boston’s Toucher and Rich of 104.1FM, and verified that Bill Murray is in, and the Next Generation plotline is still the intent. [Via Steven Hough]

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Mr. Hough has sent in an article from Cinema Blend that claims Production Weekly, a film trade magazine, available only through expensive subscription, has listed Ghostbusters 3 in the latest issue (#650, March 5th). More interesting is that while no surprise actors are listed as attached, the listing does say Apatow Productions is attached. I’m not willing to shell out $60 to confirm, but the Production Weekly website does list that this issue does include Ghostbusters 3 as a listing. This is not the same as an official announcement from Sony/Columbia that production is greenlit – it’s possible that this listing is only included because Aykroyd, Ramis and Columbia have all confirmed that a script has been commissioned, and the Apatow connection has long been a rumour. Production Weekly may have some insight into that, but none that Cinema Blend (who presumably saw the issue) read, so for the time being this is encouraging, but still not final confirmation.

If anybody is going to pass this along to AICN or similar, please make a point of including a link to Proton Charging this time. Thanks.

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Well, that was short lived – and now you know why everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

Talking to the LA Times, Columbia Pictures head Doug Belgrad spoke out against the reports that Apatow Productions were attached to Ghostbusters 3, as apparently reported in Production Weekly by way of Cinema Blend.

“It’s not true,” says Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures. “We have some great new writers working on a new script, but Judd isn’t involved. Judging from the frenzy on the Internet, there still seems to be plenty of interest in the idea of doing another film, so we’re certainly taking that as a good sign.”

The best part of the LA Times article is where they try and figure out were this rumour started, apparently unaware of the Cinema Blend post that all their included links lifted from. So no one has as yet confirmed Production Weekly’s listing or tried to find out where they got their information – but regardless, the Apatow connection seems firmly cut.

Personally, I smell an internet water test, similar to the encouraging feedback the idea of a Ghostbusters video game received by the unofficial trailers produced and posted by Zootfly. Regardless, it still looks promising for a third movie, though a bit less so than yesterday.

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Thanks to Ed for this clip – I direct you to his site to check it out. It is worth a Friday chuckle.

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I opted to not post Harold Ramis’ MTV interview for two reasons;

1) It didn’t say anything new, just reaffirmed everything we already had confirmed. New script writers from The Office, the principle original cast is back, etc.

2) MTV blocks their video to everyone outside the US, so the link wouldn’t even have interesting video for most visitors to PC.

However, judging by recent blog and Twitter posting, it appears that stupid wording on the part of MTV is causing a bit of madness. They’re referring to it as a “Reboot”, and of course that’s been parroted by a flurry of sites, reporting the MTV interview, which tends to appear as confirmation to readers instead of echo – combine that with Ramis discussing that there would be a new, young cast of busters, and a large chunk of people seem to forget he also says the main characters are back. It’s not entirely their fault, seeing as this word has been kicked around all the way back to 2008, when there was some, vague rumour that the third movie could be a remake, something nobody could even fathom as possible.

This is not a reboot in the barely coined sense of a Star Trek reboot, meaning something between a remake and a reimagining. Why Hollywood got bored of “reimagining” after barely three years, I’ll never know, but now MTV can’t even use it right. In fact, the nearly constant use of Reboot, in relation to the upcoming Star Trek film, seems to be why this confusion exists at all. The high profile and controversial project really put the new, marketing definition of the word “reboot” on the tip of every tongue.

Simply put – if it’s NOT the original story and the ORIGINAL characters put in an appearance, it’s NOT a reboot, it’s a sequel.

If the press badly want a “re” word, they should maybe use, oh, I dunno…

…revival?

Idiots.

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[UPDATE] Sony has a Twitter feed, it seems, and they posted the ShoWest news.

Sony Pictures unveils summer line up at ShoWest and confirms the studio is developing Ghostbusters 3 and Men In Black 3.

So, I’m putting this at 99% sure. Still… April 1st. Can’t be too careful.

Sony exec Rory Breur spoke at the ShoWest tradeshow in Las Vegas and spoke to Sony’s upcoming production schedule, including mention of the script production being done on Ghostbusters, making this the first mention by a Sony official about the possible third installment.

Before we continue, a couple of things have to be kept in mind;

First, it’s April 1st, and believe me when I scoured news sites, looking for any whiff of April Fools. Breur was scheduled to speak, and while some websites were parroting others, most were independently reporting the news, suggesting strongly that it’s on the up and up. Plus, there’s no good April Fools hook to the story, unless it’s that they used the much talked about Ghostbusters 3 script as a blind for fake news about them planning a third Men In Black (which itself is not exactly an outrageous suggestion.)

The speech was vague about release targets, suggesting either 2010 or 2011.

I’m putting this one on Hairy Eyeball Alert until we get a second confirmation, beyond the ShoWest talk. Thanks to EDFX for the heads up – your skepticism is wise, but fingers crossed, eh?

I’m putting below the current crop of newsites reporting the talk – I’m grouping the ones that reference others.

Total Film

First Showing

SlashFilm -> Your Entertainment Now

Collider

Coming Soon -> Superhero Hype -> Daily Radar

JoBlo

CinemaBlend

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…but I will believe Rick Moranis is involved in the third movie when Rick actually says he’s involved. He’s been fairly plain in his stance that he’s done with Louis, and this hasn’t been the first time someone has written an article that assumes “everyone is involved” includes Moranis, and not just the principle four characters.

Given that Harold Ramis has said that everyone is interested, while at the same time qualifying that everyone will have to like the script before it goes into production a year from now, it’s not much of a stretch that Ramis’ comments are more optimistic than locked-in facts. Which means the only real meat to this piece out of Ramis’ plugging of his new movie, Year One, is that the new script is entirely different than Aykroyd’s original Hellbent script and is more of a “personal” story. Which I’m assuming means, “gives Peter Venkman a big juicy part.”

Thanks to everyone that send in the links on Harold’s interview statements at ShoWest. Until someone says the script is finished, there isn’t a lot more news on Ghostbusters 3, just echos.

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Not that this is much different from the last 15 years, other than it was just last week. It’s a minor thing, and the feature is much more about his spirits (ie booze, not boooooo) promoting, but it’s nice that Dan’s getting to talk up a third movie and it’s the closest it has been in years.
Thanks Bill!

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Here comes the giant onslaught of press coverage for the Ghostbusters video game, after various press, gaming and otherwise, got to attend a special press junket earlier this week – including a sit down talk with Dan Aykroyd.

First up, Dan says he promises Sigourney Weaver will be in the third movie, if it goes into production. However, his distinction between when he’s talking about things he hopes to have in a movie versus things he hopes will be in a follow-up video game are blurry. And his hints are deliciously maddening, as always.

“but there’ll be a whole new generation that has to be trained. And that whole new generation will be led by an individual that you’ll all love when you hear who it is, but I’m not going to tell you now. There will be lots of cadets, boys and girls, who’ll be learning how to use the cyclotron, the accelerators, and the new stuff. The nuon splitter, the inter-planary interceptor, all these great tools they’re going to have to flip from dimension to dimension. Anyway. Game number two, maybe. “

In an interview with USA Today, Aykroyd spoke more about the game, talking a bit about how the premise behind the video game is that Ivo Shandor continues to have a cult, literal cult, following, who are continuing his work of building structures that are designed to mess with things man was not meant to know.

“Shandor used semi-radioactive material to build psychic structures to channel the ethereal and spirit world,” Ackroyd says. “And in the video game, we have created a whole numerous group of followers who have gone on to create other structures in Manhattan. So there is not only one structure like the structure we saw in the first movie where we get on the rooftop and battle the interdimensional forces. There are a dozen structures in Manhattan which, in effect, are portals to other dimensions.”

Thanks to Andreas for the links.

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Dan Aykroyd has been in front of the press a lot the last couple of days and as always is talking about Ghostbusters 3. He remains hopeful that a third film can go into production as early as this Fall. He also says that Sigourney Weaver is on-board. He then spends a lot of time dismissing misconceptions about Bill Murray and another sequel.

“I don’t put not making the third movie on Billy. We can’t do that. I’ve been very busy. Harold’s been busy, Ivan’s been busy. And a third script really didn’t coalesce properly. And Billy, you can’t blame an artist for not wanting to do the same thing again. He did two of them, for God’s sake. Although I’m the biggest cheerleader as the originator of the concept but I’ve never begrudged Billy not doing a third movie. I never said he held it up or that he refused. Hey, listen, he’s an artist. You can’t force somebody into it. I’m sorry he never read my third draft because I thought it was pretty good but, look, now we’re at a point that there’s a story that he can accept and that’s going to work, and I think we’re going to be in production fairly soon. We could be in production by winter

I’ve read the first draft and knew there was a second draft, but I wasn’t aware there was a third out there.

Also, Aykroyd talks about getting some ladies into uniform, Allisa Milano and Eliza “Buffy, Dollhouse” Dushku;

“I think they’re amazing,” he said. “And I’m excited about the whole idea of getting this done.”

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Dan Aykroyd sat down for an interview with The Guardian, and besides talking about his favorite topics, he talked a bit more about GB3 as he sees it, which expands on his earlier revelation about having a female leader for the next generation of busters. He also speaks more about the new “cadets” who are “boys and girls” learning how to use “neuron splitter and the inter-planet interceptor” equipment.

It’s at times like these that I’d like to remind people that Ghostbusters starts in Dan’s brain, and then is adjusted and altered along the way, so try not to project your fears into this and spend the next 24 months railing on and on about how it will suck. It’s just a handful of off-hand comments.

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It’s been a long time since Ghostbusters: Hellbent first started to make tangible strides towards being a full-fledged fan-film and even long since the idea was first hatched, but with only a couple of effects shots left, Hellbent is just about ready. Check out their website for more information.

[UPDATE] The trailer on their homepage isn’t the final trailer, so I’ve replaced what I’d originally posted with that newer trailer.

Ghostbusters: Hellbent Trailer (Final) from White Tiger Filmz on Vimeo.

Ghostbusters: Hellbent Trailer (The Omniedit) from White Tiger Filmz on Vimeo.

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These days, the internet is full of Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis talking about Ghostbusters – like like it’s 1999, all over again! Thanks to Ali and Clay for the linkage.

Here, Dan Aykroyd talks a bit about the game and a lot about the possible third movie;

(note: I’ve played the level in that last shot. The door wasn’t covered like that – I wonder if the footage is from an older version of the game?)

Here, Harold Ramis talks a bit about the game and a lot about the possible third movie, only in text, not video;

What are your thoughts on the new Atari Ghostbusters game?

Harold Ramis: As soon as they started showing us animatics of what they wanted to do I thought this was really cool. There was something intimately flattering about having our real images in the game looking what we used to look like, which is more than flattering. It seemed quite natural. And the possibility that there’d be realistic dialogue recorded with our voices. Of course, you can’t invest the kind of time to make it a full-blown comedy, the game is more action than comedy. But the fact that it could have comic moments and the kind of funny ironic attitude that the movie had married to a state-of-the-art action game seemed like a great possibility.

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Harold Ramis, busy promoting his new film, Year One, spent a little time talking about Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters the Video Game, and Ghostbusters 3. Not a lot, but it’s that he’s talking about it on late night TV that’s satisfying.

Big thanks to the, literally, dozens of you that emailed in links, and thanks to Chad at Ghostbusters.net for posting the video.

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This is most a chat between Ain’t It Cool News and Harold Ramis, talking about his work, Year One, etc., but as expected talk turns to Ghostbusters 3, which is then entirely wasted by AICN asking the same questions as everyone else. However, they do manage to get Ramis to say what has been common knowledge, but overlooked by a lot of enthusiastic fans – Ghostbusters 3 has not begun production. This is important info, because the project could fall apart tomorrow, but everyone already has 2012 marked on their calendar. Thanks to Nevil for the link.

Capone: They’re still writing, okay. So, we’ve been hearing all sorts of wild casting rumors about younger…

HR: No, none of that’s real. There will be young ghostbusters, but no specific casting is real, and no director is committed.

Capone: And, for the four main cast members…

HR: Everyone said they’d be in it.

Capone: Okay, it’s strictly a verbal thing at this point?

HR: Yeah, because there’s no…The studio does not want to commit to us at this point. It’s very…When everyone says ‘yes’ that will trigger a very expensive deal for the powers that be.

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Talking to TV Squad about a variety of things, the topic turned to Ghostbusters 3, and while it has previously been said she would be involved, she is now not as certain.

So, you won’t be appearing in the movie?

No, I don’t expect to have anything to do with it, although I wish them well.

There’s way more than that, but that about sums it up – it should be pointed out for the conclusionally jumpy, Weaver does not say it is certain she wouldn’t be in the second sequel for Ghostbusters, but rather that she doesn’t think there will be. As the script writers hand in their first draft, and then everyone gets a crack at it, it’s not impossible that she will make at least a cameo, provided the movie actually goes into production. We’ll find out in good time.

Thanks to Daryn for the heads up.

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