It’s happening. Not the coming of Gozer, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, or mass hysteria. No, it’s even worse. Sony and director Ivan Reitman are shooting GHOSTBUSTERS 3 this summer without Bill Murray.
The film’s looming start date is apparently so set in stone it is stalling the production of Reitman’s Kevin Costner football drama DRAFT DAY: Paramount chose not to make it [DRAFT DAY] in the small window that Reitman has before he is expected to finally get the long-gestating Ghostbusters reboot in front of the cameras next summer for Sony Pictures (sans Bill Murray). So, yeah, we have moved beyond rumors and rumblings and this sequel is going to get made.
GHOSTBUSTERS 3 has had so many false starts and development snags it could fill a book. Most of the fuss has been made about Murray’s refusal to commit to the project without a great script, citing his disappointment with GHOSTBUSTERS 2. I’m sure this sentiment has given MEN IN BLACK 3 scribe Etan Coen some sleepless nights following his takeover of scripting duties from Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky earlier this year. Not much is known about what direction Coen is taking the screenplay aside from a premise dictating the Ghostbusters are too old to save the world and need to “pass the torch” to new cadets (an idea that series creator Dan Aykroyd has been batting around since the 90s and even touched on in the GHOSTBUSTERS video game). Keep in mind that Reitman also recently discussed how he potentially envisions GHOSTBUSTERS 3 as a remake, which ranks among the biggest WTF!?! pieces of movie news in some time.
So even though one seems to know what’s going on with this damn movie, GHOSTBUSTERS 3 will be made this summer. Without Bill Murray. Feel free to facepalm and offer witty comments below, but I call dibs on “It’s true, your honor. This sequel has no Bill.”