It’s safe to say the idea of GHOSTBUSTERS 3 passed into the arena of the dead dog some years ago and though the franchise is fondly-remembered it isn’t the best idea to try and sneak up behind the corpse with a whip. Ironically star Dan Aykroyd was the subject of an internet “death hoax” this month. However, with production proceeding on a third instalment screenwriter Max “Son of John” Landis (who brought us CHRONICLE) has waded into the matter after being wrongly-identified as a contributor to the project. We’re familiar with the near-as-damn-it video game version and the spin off novel Ghostbusters: The Return, now here is another take. With the enthusiasm of a fan who has realized his dream probably won’t come to fruition, Landis has outlined the following scenario:
My Ghostbusters 3 began in the 1920s with Ivo Shandor murdering a gluttonous associate to protect his cult after he has a moral objection. Shandor tells the overweight man that nothing can stop the coming of Gozer; first, the gate will open in 1984, then again 20 years later. The fat man, who now has all the details of Shandor’s plans, threatens to go to the police, and Shandor poisons him. It’s scary, but… as Shandor escapes, we see that we’re in the Sedgewick Hotel, and that the guy we just saw die… Is Slimer.
My full movie concerns several new teams (focusing on one), grown from the Ghostbusters Franchise which is now global (and going bankrupt). Ghostbusters have become a parody of themselves, there are barely 12 ghosts caught a year. People have forgotten what happened in NYC. Egon passed away, Venkman lives on an island, Winston retired rich. Only Ray Stantz is left in charge, and he’s a terrible business man. In an effort to bring back business, an obsessed team whose station has been shut down attempts to summon a minor ghost… Mistake. Gozer.
It’s up to our hero team to stop the bad team, reunite the fractured franchises, and save our dimension from a very pissed off demigod. It’s all very meta (creatively bankrupt Ghostbusters, no-one wants the new team, the bad team are slick Michael Bay-versions of the GBs)… But you keep the action, comedy and emotion sincere. Witty, bluecollar guys who are the last people you’d want saving the world. And I think the teams would be by modern-comedy clique; a Parks/Rec team, a Rogen/Franco team, a Kroll/Key/Peele team…
My ten cents on the matter are while this is maybe better than what the studio have in mind, it’s still the work of an intelligent fan that will only really appeal to other fans. (Also, a Parks & Recreation vibe… really?) Crucially Landis acknowledges the majority of the cast simply aren’t available, in the case of Harold Ramis tragically and permanently so. An engaging flight of fancy yes, yet it might just be the indicator needed to point GHOSTBUSTERS in the direction of the containment unit.
Source: Digital Spy
