Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s before there were cinematic universes, the best a person could hope for was a sequel. These days, with successful box office numbers studios move quickly move to build upon that success with prequels, sequels, spin-offs and TV series. John Wick is a recent example of this with three movies already in the series, a fourth movie a rumored and a spin-off TV show in development. Dan Aykroyd is hoping to now accomplish the same with Ghostbusters.
Back in 1984 after I saw the original Ghostbusters I just hoped and prayed I would get a sequel. Five years later Ghostbusters II hit theaters. Unfortunately that would be the end of the line for the original cast Dan AyKroyd, Harold Ramis and Bill Murray. You can only imagine my excitement when earlier this year the original director’s son, Jason Reitman, announced Ghostbusters III.
What Dan Aykroyd is saying…
In a recent interview with 660 City News, Aykroyd says he has given Reitman a script for a Ghostbusters prequel. He explains the story would be set in the late 1960s and would explore the teenage years of parapsychologists Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler and Ray Stantz.
“I’ve written ‘Ghostbusters High,’ where they meet in New Jersey in 1969 and we’re looking to do that as probably a glorified feature or pilot within the next maybe five years…. And it would lead to a television project and I thought of him [Reitman] immediately…but that’s years away from the current project. But it’s a neat idea for a prequel. Imagine casting the three characters as teenagers!”
– Dan Aykroyd, 660 City News interview (May 2019)
More revelations from his interview…
In addition, to speaking about the prequel he penned, Aykroyd also elaborated on the direction of Ghostbusters III both in story tone, budget and special effects.
“It’s so different from even the first and second (film)…. This just takes it to a new generation and a new direction that is so warm, heartfelt and indeed, quite scary when you confront some of the issues that are being discussed.”
– Dan Aykroyd, 660 City News interview (May 2019)
“I’m always urging to use puppets. I’m always urging to go back to the mechanicals. But CGI is so efficient and easy to use but I think that all of us are on board with the idea of maybe doing mechanicals and puppets where we can.”
– Dan Aykroyd, 660 City News interview (May 2019)
“It’s definitely going to be way under $100 (million). I would think. Movies cost a lot today. It can’t be $30 (million), $50 (million) would be stretching it.”
– Dan Aykroyd, 660 City News interview (May 2019)
None of this is a guarantee that Ghostbusters will spawn its own version of an MCU. Whether you liked 2016’s all-female reboot of Ghostbusters, it was box office failure and almost killed any chance of future projects. However, with Reitman and Aykroyd involved hopefully the magic of the original movie will be captured again!
Ghostbusters III is currently slated to arrive in theaters on July 10, 2020 from Sony pictures.
