Dan Aykroyd appeared on Dennis Miller’s radio show and talked a whole lot about Ghostbusters 3. It seems he is determined that filming start in 2012, whether or not Bill Murray is onboard. Said Aykroyd:
“Yes, we will be doing the movie and hopefully with Mr. Murray. That is our hope. What we have to remember is 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 and the promise of Ghostbusters 3 is that we get to hand the equipment and the franchise down to new blood.”
Ooh, sounds like Dan is taking a stand here, calling Bill “Mr. Murray” and everything. He went on to explain how the old ‘busters are now old and useless:
“My character, Ray, is now blind in one eye and can’t drive the Cadillac. He’s got a bad knee and can’t carry the packs. Egon is too large to get into the harness. We need young blood.”
Apparently, the new team will consist of three guys and a girl, and Aykroyd has his eyes on Criminal Minds’ Matthew Gray Gubler, for some reason.
So, what does this mean? Aykroyd is clearly pretty annoyed with Murray for taking so long to respond yes or no, and who can blame him? Billy has been almost demonstratively passive and disinterested all along.
But it sure seems as if there’s some determination to go ahead. A Ghostbusters 3 without Murray may well become reality, but whatever Aykroyd says, it will be missing a vital component. Let’s sincerely hope it doesn’t come to that.
So right after we reported that not much was happening on the Ghostbusters 3 front, someone spotted a statement by Sony (via DenOfGeek.com) saying: “Sony Pictures Entertainment has a licensing program targeting the Ghostbusters core fan base for the relaunch of the movie franchise in 2013.”
Ooh! Something official-sounding! What does it mean, exactly? On the face of it, it’s a clue that Sony really has firm plans to release Ghostbusters 3 in 2013 and are now preparing for it. Some speculate that it means a deal has been struck behind closed doors, and Bill Murray is aboard after all. Others say that the rest of the crew got tired of waiting for him to say yes or no and just went ahead without him.
Yeah, those are possible scenarios, except the last one. Sony pretty much can’t go ahead without Murray’s consent, because of legal stuff. So either he’s quietly accepted a trillion dollars for taking part, or the Sony press release was not about Ghostbusters 3 at all.
Personally, we think that a part of a press release from Sony doesn’t have to mean anything. They’re just going ahead on a predetermined schedule, assuming that everything will turn out okay. And if it doesn’t, pulling the plug on a licensing program won’t cost them much.
So, to answer the headline: Maybe, maybe not. Things are still as up in the air as they have been for months now.
Prove us wrong, Bill. Prove us wrong.
So waiting for Ghostbusters 3 to get anywhere is continuing to be a long, painful process. Still no word on whether Bill Murray is in or whether he has even read the script. I’m guessing he hasn’t and he knows he’s going to just let the process peter out with no word one way or the other. Dude must really have it in for someone on the team… This appears to be what’s holding everything up at the moment, and there’s really no end in sight.
A rumor has it that Bill Hader may be considered for a role in the third bustin’ movie, but he knows just as little as anyone else. “I don’t know anything about that,” he said to MTV. It was just IMDb that had him on their very speculative cast list. Do they know something we don’t? Sure, Hader does fine on Saturday Night Live, and if IMDb is right, Ghostbusters 3 could be his major breakout role. I guess we’ll find out…
And that’s all! Nothing new has happened since early March. Let’s hope there’s some development this summer. But let’s not hold our breath.