Sci-Fi Storm

Now who you gonna call? It appears another Ghostbusters film will be a reality, but this time it will be a true sequel to the original team as opposed to be a sequel to the 2016 remake. And Jason Reitman, the son of original director Ivan Reitman, will be directing. It has not been announced if the original Ghostbusters team will be involved. Production is expected to start this summer.

Reitman even released a teaser for the movie:

Now we finally get a taste of what the new Ghostbusters are up to…some of it seems a bit familiar, but perhaps with a tad more slapstick…

Ghostbusters start bustin’ July 15, 2016.

Sony isn’t turning the Ghostbusters into an all-female franchise – that’s only happening for the upcoming movie.

As it turns out, Sony wants it’s own “cinematic universe” of linked movies, ala the highly successful “Marvel Cinematic Universe”, the upcoming DC Universe, and even the expanded Star Wars films. And it sees the Ghostbusters being the center of that universe.

Deadline reports that Sony has partnered to form Ghostcorps, which will include original Ghostbusters shepherds Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd, and will be developing branding opportunities that will include a second Ghostbusters movie with a male cast – one that may also include Channing Tatum (Magic Mike), who is tagged to produce with his partners Reid Carolin and Peter Kiernan.

Also in the fold are directing duo brothers Joe and Anthony Russo, who directed Captain America: The Winter Soldier and are currently working on Captain America: Civil War, and screenwriter Drew Pearce who wrote Iron Man 3 and Mission: Impossible 5 and who came up with the idea.

We’ve got one casting confirmed, and one hot rumor…

The first lead actress to take on the gender-flipping Ghostbusters remake is Melissa McCarthy, who worked with director Kevin Feig in Bridesmaids and The Heat. Bridesmaids cast mate Kristin Wiig is reportedly also in negotiations as one of the team, as is current Saturday Night Live cast members Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon.

In the hot rumors side, Disney has wanted to relaunch Indiana Jones since obtaining the franchise from Paramount, and even with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull it appeared that there were plans to hand over the whip and fedora to a younger actor in Shia LeBeouf until Harrison Ford snatched his hat back at the end (and probably for the better…)

Now hey may have found are more apt successor, perhaps to replace Harrison Ford as Indy himself, in Guardians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt, according to Deadline. It’s all very early, but it appears the studio is looking at Pratt to lead the franchise, but it will have to wait as Starlord needs to finish The Magnificent Seven for MGM/Sony and of course the obligatory Guardians of the Galaxy 2.

It seems that Sony is fed up waiting for a Ghostbusters 3 (not that the death of Harold Ramis earlier this year helped.) Sony is pushing forward with a new director Paul Feig (The Heat), and now has a writer, The Heat‘s Katie Dippold.

The film will now be an entire reboot of the franchise, with reportedly no ties to the original team or movies. And this time, it will be a female buddy comedy, with a whole new team of female leads.

I’m all for it, but it’s going to be hard not to think back to Venkman, Spengler, Zantz and Zeddemore.

The Chicago Tribune reports that actor/writer/director Harold Ramis passed away early this morning due to complications from a rare autoimmune disease, surrounded by family. He was 69.

Ramis is perhaps best known for his starring roles alongside Bill Murray in Ghostbusters and Stripes, but he also wrote the screenplays to those and several other Bill Murray vehicles including Meatballs,Caddyshack and Groundhog Day, but also directed the latter two as well as National Lampoon’s Vacation, and most recently had directed several episodes of The Office. He got his big break while with the Second City performing group as the first head writer for their SCTV program, which he also performed in.

If you’ve been waiting for Ghostbusters 3, it might be time to find something else to wait for.

In a recent interview with The Telegraph, actor/writer Dan Aykroyd, who has been trying to get Ghostbusters 3 going for a while, appears to be frustrated – and the cause still appears to be fellow Ghostbuster Bill Murray.

“I honestly don’t know. At this point it’s in suspended animation,” he said. “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’d 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 and he doesn’t want to know.”

There could be other options – the article says they could consider recasting (something that I don’t think would go well for the fans) or making Venkman a CGI ghost (which would likely still require Murray’s approval), and there is always writing him out completely. But in the same vein, they don’t want to make the movie just to make a movie. “We’re not going to do a movie that exploits the franchise,” he added. “The script has to be perfect. I’m the cheerleader, but I’m only one voice in the matter. It’s a surety that Bill Murray will not do the movie, however there is still interest from the studio.”

Ghostbusters saw some renewed interest in the past couple of years, and a script has been done – so why isn’t it getting made? It’s been long said that Bill Murray has been squeamish on doing another sequel – but Ivan Reitman reportedly said in Germany this past weekend Murray had read the script. Apparently that’s not true. Murray says he has NOT read the script, and although he admits he really should read it, Ghostbusters 2 really turned him off from doing sequels in general – despite the fun had with the cast and crew.

All I know is that if there is another Ghostbusters movie – whoever the cast is – my kids want to see it. It may not be the same for me, but I think there is an audience…