Ghostbusters III Still Mostly Rumors and Speculation

We all have fond memories of Ghostbusters from our younger days, whether it was the original 1984 film, its 1989 sequel or the various spin-offs and merchandising ploys throughout the nineties. So needless to say, the prospect of an official Ghostbusters 3 is awfully exciting; the only problem is we still don’t know for sure when or what the damn thing is going to be.

One thing we do know is that Columbia Pictures (owners of the Ghostbusters franchise) have tapped Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitski (writers on The Office) to write this next film. Current rumors are speculating that Seth Rogan, Steve Carell and Paul Rudd will join up with Dan Akroyd, Rick Moranis and Harold Ramis to produce a kind of new-generation meets classic Ghostbusters. According to Hollywood.com, Rudd dismissed these reports as “flattering rumors,” but that hasn’t stopped eager fanboys from daydreaming.

A lot of people are genuinely pleased by this prospect and I have to admit that I haven’t seen a Seth Rogan or Steve Carell film recently that I haven’t enjoyed, and their dry brand of humor would play well in a franchise where the characters try so hard to take themselves seriously. However, if I hear a single “that’s what she said” or “you know how I know you’re gay,” I’ll walk right out of the theater.

Older reports claimed that Harold Ramis and Dan Akroyd had their own version of the film entitled Ghostbusters in Hell or Ghostbusters: Hellbent, in which the Ghostbusters are transported through an interdimensional portal into a bizzaro-world New York. The film would be fully CGI given how much the actors have aged in the twenty year gap between films.

The idea sounds okay, but part of the joy of Ghostbusters is the fact that the franchise juxtaposes the absurd into a very normal setting. The moment you make the setting so fantastic, a lot of the series’ charm is at risk. And the moment a loved live-action franchise is done in CG you run the risk of upsetting a lot of long time fans (see: The Clone Wars), and this franchise has some very long-time fans. It would appear as though this film fell by the wayside since the signing of Eisenberg and Stupnitski, but since we don’t have any solid news as of this writing, who knows?

At this point, you’re probably wondering: didn’t I see somewhere that Sierra was putting out a Ghostbusters video game that was supposed to be a kind of Ghostbusters 3? Yes, you did; but there are some nasty questions regarding this part of the classic franchise as well. It seems that Activision is, for some reason, refusing to announce a release date of the title, and rumors have it that the game has been halted in production.

So the future of one of our favorite nerd franchises hangs in the balance. With so many conflicting reports of its future, we can only sit back and hope against hope that the corporate bigwigs don’t piss all over our childhood memories.