Just when you thought they were in, now they’re back out.
For those who were hoping there would be another Ghostbusters movie, or at least remotely curious about one, it looked like a film was closer than ever to getting made. Indeed, as we reported on TG, there was even talk Ghostbusters 3 would start rolling this summer.
But now Sony has halted the train, and Ghostbusters 3 is back on hold because reports have surfaced the studio is in trouble. A report in the L.A. Times was headlined “Sony Pictures Cutting Back on Production,” and the story claimed that the word around town is, “Sony is out of money.” There’s also been speculation that the studio may be sold, which the company denied in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter.
The Reporter also says that any decisions on Ghostbusters 3 won’t be made until March, which would push the film’s start date to next fall, if it indeed ultimately gets the go-ahead. Until then, the studio is apparently “almost [too] paralyzed” to make a movie until the end of the fiscal year, which is next March 31.
The Ghostbusters 3 script was recently re-written by Etan Cohen, who penned Men in Black 3, and was reportedly paid “a huge sum” for his services. Ironically, the third Men In Black is one of the reasons Sony is cutting back on production. The company will now be making two less movies a year, and Sony’s 2013 slate is set, but they’re proceeding cautiously for 2014 because the third MiB was a disappointment, and Total Recall, and the Adam Sandler “comedy” That’s My Boy, were huge duds.
At least one major tent-pole, the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man, will of course go forward, but whether Ghostbusters 3 will be among Sony’s tent-poles for 2014 is still up in the air.
