The process of getting this movie made has, thus far, been a nightmare. The best blow-by-blow outline that exists on the internet seems to stem from GBFans.com [GBFans on Ghostbusters III], and that ends on quite the series of mixed signals:
Aykroyd does warn that "at any second everything could blow up" in regard's to the project's momentum.
In June 2009, Sigourney Weaver stated that she doesn't expect to be in the third Ghostbusters movie. Speaking to scifisquad.com, the actress said "No, I don't expect to have anything to do with it, although I wish them well".
In an interview with Channel 4 News on December 11, 2009 Sigourney Weaver revealed she would be interested in having a small role in Ghostbusters 3, and that Bill Murray could be playing a ghost this time around.
Bill Murray has stated that he would be on board for the project, after hearing how much fan interest there is. Despite some misgivings, he said that, "the more we talked about it, the more I thought, 'Oh Christ, I should just do this thing.'"
Last week, we received news that the script for Ghostbusters 3 has been taken from the hands of The Office writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky after their latest, Year One, was a flop. It's back with Dan Ackroyd, who completed his own Ghostbusters 3 draft years ago. His script was called Ghostbusters: Hellbent and featured the 'Busters traveling between dimensions to a Hell version of New York where they meet the devil as portrayed by a Donald Trump-like businessman.
Like any projects that have been spinning in development hell for as long as this one, we actually have a few snippets of information about possible storylines and events that are likely to appear in Ghostbusters 3.
The story will involve the passing of the torch onto a new team of Ghostbusters. All the original actors are old. Old enough that even when Dan Ackroyd appeared as Ray in Casper in the 90s, he looked slightly out of place. There's no way that Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Dan Ackroyd and Ernie Hudson return to fight a final battle for the franchise, because Ghostbusters is – above all else at this point – a franchise. Considering it's been hard enough to get just those four back together after all members describe Ghostbusters 2 as a mistake-in-hindsight, you get them for one movie, max. Ackroyd has always seemed to love the property more than the rest (and who can blame him with his lackluster career choices as of late?), so Ray could stick around in a Q (from James Bond) capacity, but a new team is going to be the focus.
The new team will most likely include Dana Barrett's son Oscar from Ghostbusters 2. This was it's own news item when it was first brought to light, but – really – Oscar is the only element from the second film that is even worth bringing into a sequel. Plus, he's the only character that would make THIS particular Ghostbusters story worth telling on film. We assume that every adventure the original team had between here and Ghostbusters 2 (including the video game, which is considered canon) was them saving the world. Why is this third time important if not for Oscar? Maybe because it's also when...
Peter Venkman dies. Bill Murray said that he would only be interested in a third Ghostbusters if his character died in the first reel. All reporting since Murray made that statement indicates that someone was listening and took it seriously because “Ghost Venkman,” seems to be the buzzing plot point that all involved parties have heard of. There was a rumor that the death of Peter would somehow also RetCon (Retroactive Continuity – or the altering of a story we thought we knew) Oscar's father and reveal that Oscar was a Venkman/Barrett after all.
The Ghostbusters Have Franchised. The video game is canon, and one of the more interesting story aspects of the game was the revelation that after saving New York City from being destroyed by an ancient god twice, the government finally realized that ghost hunting might be a real concern for the citizens of America (which was bound to happen when both attacks happened under the same Mayor). In the game, a government agency called The Paranormal Contracts Oversight Commission (PCOC – peacock) evaluates the 'Busters and the civic damage they cause. The game ends with the suggestion that other Ghostbusters franchise in another city will open – which means the Ghostbusters have become a hybrid franchise-able business and government agency.
There is one plot point that has been rumored to be true, but isn't confirmed or really cited anywhere with solid information: the script might be based on Zoroastrianism. It's one of the earliest religions on record and the first one that separated two entities to be “good” and “bad,” a belief that would eventually evolve through culture to become “Hell.” Zoroasters believe the Creator Ahura Mazda protects truth (asha) from evil (druj), made manifest as Angra Mainyu or Ahriman. As it was the first religion to split good and evil in these ways, it's also one of the first religions to emphasize free will in the choice between being good and being bad.
When thinking about how to start a new Ghostbusters movie near 25 years after the previous sequel, the mind keeps returning to what may have been had someone decided to make Ghostbusters: Hellbent in the late 90s. There used to be a game I played in college where we'd all state our dream follow-up Ghostbusters had the franchise became like SNL – a shared funny idea between multiple generations of comedians. I pitch that we start Ghostbusters 3 with the Ghostbusters that have been working the New York Franchise for the past decade as they take on a job that's physically taxing for them (if they're old, imagine how old the originals are!).
If this was my perfect world, Ghostbusters 3 would open with Ben Stiller, Will Farrell, Chris Rock and Mike Myers fighting some sort of ghost in New York – the streets of New York. You have to remember that we're returning to a New York that is fully aware that ghosts exist. The scene would be constructed around the comic strengths of each of the “new” old Ghostbusters, and end when one of the 'Busters is disabled and his proton pack is picked up by a young passerby: Oscar Barrett.
Finally the ghost would be caught. While the 'Busters are collecting the steaming trap, PCOC shows up to survey the damage to the surrounding buildings. They find something in the rubble marked with a Faravahar – a winged Zoroastian symbol – and when Stiller, Rock, Myers and Farrell touch it, they blink out of existence. Leaving only Oscar with a proton pack he's not licensed to use standing amongst government agents
Oscar is taken into custody by the police and PCOC. Meanwhile, elsewhere in New York, we come upon the funeral of Peter Venkman, attended by as many of the original cast that can be begged or bought to return, plus any recognizable comedians that would like to be Franchised Ghostbusting Teams can also attend in their darker, Ghostbusters 2 uniforms.
I propose a third Ghostbusters still be something similar to Hellbent in the sense that there is two dimensions occupying the same New York space. One is the “truth” dimension that we've been living in and the other is “druj” dimension. Ray has invented a device that allows people to temporarily switch dimensions with the sad side effect that you displace a ghost or two into OUR dimension when you cross over.
Oscar, meanwhile, begins Ghostbusting and finds the ghost of his father, Peter, who has returned from the dead because he knows where the portal object and the missing Ghostbusters are in the druj dimension.
Really, what we're looking for in Ghostbusters 3 is the thinnest plot that allows all the tent-poles that hold up a Ghostbusters movie: comedy, ghost busting, and ancient god as a big bad, government interference and – at the end – New York pride.
