Ghostbusters III is still happening, but will be developed without Ivan Reitman as director. Although the helmer has been attached to the project for years, after Harold Ramis’ death, he decided to step down. He will stay on as a producer and plans to help Sony find a replacement.
Sony and Reitman have never officially commented on Ghostbusters III, even though there have been countless rumors about who will be writing and if the film would even happen. However, Reitman gave an extended interview with Deadline, confirming that it is still in the works and that he will not be directing.
“We’d decided not to comment up till now, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, and it was never clear what Bill [Murray] was going to do,” Reitman, who directed the first Ghostbusters films, told the site. “A lot of things happened in the last few months, the most significant of which was the passing of Harold, who was a very good friend who was extraordinarily influential in my career. We did five movies together including both Ghostbusters.”
Reitman did say that they have been trying to get Murray to commit to the project and that there were two scripts. Both had help from Ramis and Dan Aykroyd. The studio is currently excited about the version written by Etan Cohen.
Following Ramis’ funeral, Reitman said he met with Sony executives Amy Pascal and Doug Belgrad and said he would like to just produce Ghostbusters III. They accepted his decision. “I told them I thought I could help but let’s find a really good director and make it with him,” Reitman said. “So that’s what we’ve agreed will happen. I didn’t want all kinds of speculation about what happened with me, that is the real story.”
Reitman’s comments come just a couple of weeks after reports confirmed that Sony was still trying to make the project. The scripts did call for a limited role for the original Ghostbusters, which Reitman confirmed.
Reitman said that filming could start as early as this fall, but next year is more likely.
image courtesy of Amazon