Sony picks ‘Men In Black 3’ writer Etan Cohen to write ‘Ghostbusters 3’

Etan Cohen helped give Sony a hit with Men in Black 3, which revived a franchise that was dormant for a decade. Now, he is reportedly being asked to revive a franchise that has been dead for 23 years - Ghostbusters.

Variety reported on Tuesday that Sony hired Cohen as the new writer for Ghostbusters 3. Cohen is the mind behind Mike Judge’s Idocracy, as well as other films such as Tropic Thunder and Madagascar 2.

According to ABC News, a third Ghostbusters film was rumored for years.

Sony began showing interest in the franchise again with the 2009 video game, which included all the original actors voicing their characters. Last year, Bill Murray was sent a script by The Office writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, which was praised by Dan Akroyd. However, Murray never commented on the script and last week, Akroyd said that new writers were hired, which was confirmed by Variety's report.

The Ghostbusters franchise started with the highly-successful 1984 film, which starred Murray, Akroyd and Harold Ramis and was directed by Ivan Reitman. Ghostbusters II was released in 1989, with most of the original cast returning, and was also directed by Reitman.

Variety did not reveal much about the third film’s plot, only reporting that most of the cast is expected to return to train a new generation to stop ghosts in New York.