As we reported earlier, Dan Aykroyd is ready to roll with Ghostbusters 3 after years of development hell. Aykroyd also claimed the movie would move forward with or without Bill Murray.
However, Sigourney Weaver is now saying that GB III may not go forward without Bill. Weaver was quoted on Cinema Blend as saying she hasn’t read the script yet, but “she did suggest the scenario that Peter Venkman is dead.”
She was also quoted as saying, “I don’t think any of us would do it, if Bill said no. Why would we do that? I think the whole point is to get together and have fun.”
Again, always remember the Internet isn’t always the most peerless source of accurate information, so take all this for what it’s worth.
Other stories on Cinema Blend have speculated that John Goodman may be onboard, that GB III could be in 3D (with the required question marks at the end of each headline), and that the original film will be digitally restored and back in theaters for Halloween.
Maybe Columbia wants to see how much of an audience Ghostbusters still has before the third film goes forward. As I wrote previously here on TG, the original Ghostbusters has a special place in the hearts of geeks everywhere, and I still fondly recall when it came out in the summer of ’84, and what a wonderful phenomenon the movie was.
That magic may be hard to recapture again, with or without Bill Murray, and Aykroyd has said the series will be turned over to newer, younger Ghostbusters because Ray will be there, but he’s now old and feeble.
Ghostbusters was a wonderful, unique comedy vision then, and if the childhood memories of fans are violated, a la Lucas, there’s definitely gonna be geek hell to pay.
As Cinema Blend put it, “The Ghostbusters are four things; Ray, Egon, Winston, and Venkman. They’re a team. Louis, Janine and Dana are also necessary ingredient for the films. If they’re going to bring the film back, they should do it right and to do that they need all of the necessary elements. If someone can produce a person that can replace Bill Murray, go for it, but that’s a ridiculously tall order.”
