In recent months, there’s been speculation and fan reaction – both pro and con – about Ghostbusters 3, which may or may not get made one of these days.
The most colorful story to make the rounds? Bill Murray sending a shredded draft script back to Dan Aykroyd with a note explaning why nobody wants to see old, fat guys chasing ghosts.
Aykroyd diplomatically denied this, and if it did actually happen, he’s too much of a class act to talk about it publicly.
Of course, it certainly sounds like something Murray would do. But now a report has surfaced that in spite of Aykroyd’s noble charging on with Ghostbusters 3, the project’s future may indeed be in doubt.
Word came down to Telegraph, a London newspaper, and The Hollywood Reporter that the film is “in suspended animation.”
As Aykroyd told The Telegraph, “The studio, the director Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis feel there must be a way to do it, but Bill Murray will not do the movie. He doesn’t want to be involved. He’s got six kids, houses all over America.
“He golfs in these tournaments where they pay him to turn up and have a laugh. He’s into this life and living it. I know we would have a lot of fun [but] I can’t be mad at him. He’s a friend first, a colleague second. We have a deep personal relationship that transcends business…”
Aykroyd also said that the film could work without Murray, telling The Reporter, “We have to remember that Ghostbusters is bigger than any one component, although Billy was absolutely the lead and contributive to it in a massive way, as was the director and Harold [Ramis], myself and Sigourney [Weaver]. The concept is much larger than any individual role…”
Aykroyd indeed was also looking for “new blood,” with three new young guys and a girl, as the older Ghostbusters take a bit of a backseat. And there’s still plenty of geek goodwill out there for Ghostbusters, otherwise nobody would be writing about any potential sequel.
While the series shouldn’t end with the second one, which was just blah and didn’t have the innovative magic of the original, if Ghostbusters 3 does actually die off, maybe it’s for the best. The first one was a one in a million, insane concept that worked hilariously well, and it’s hard to recapture that original lightning in a bottle, especially considering that lightning struck nearly thirty years ago now.
