Jason Reitman directing a Ghostbusters Sequel
Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Bill Murray could be back to vanquish ghosts in this second sequel to the original and much-loved 1984 comedy
A Ghostbusters sequel is coming! But it’s not the lively, goofy, all-female reboot from 2016 that’s getting a new film, but the much-loved original series starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis as paranormal scientist misfits who start a business ridding New York of ghosts.
It was confirmed last night that Jason Reitman, the son of Ivan Reitman, who directed Ghostbusters and 1989 sequel Ghostbusters II, will take the helm of a film set within the same universe in which Peter Venkman (Murray), Ray Stantz (Aykroyd), Egon Spengler (Ramis) and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) saved New York from Gozer, the demonic spirit who in the film takes the form of both Sigourney Weaver and a giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
This won’t be Reitman’s first time on a Ghostbusters set. As a kid he would visit his father during shooting. “I’ve always thought of myself as the first Ghostbusters fan, when I was a six-year-old visiting the set,” Reitman told Entertainment Weekly. In Ghostbusters II, Reitman actually has a small role as a mouthy kid who tells the Ghostbusters off: “My dad says you guys are full of crap.”
“I wanted to make a movie for all the other fans,” Reitman told EW, in what is perhaps a veiled dig at the all-female Ghostbusters film that did not go down well with the fanboys. “This is the next chapter in the original franchise. It is not a reboot. What happened in the 80s happened in the 80s, and this is set in the present day.”
Reitman announced the news on Twitter saying, “Finally got the keys to the car.”
Finally got the keys to the car. #GB20 https://t.co/T1Np2lRQl1
— Jason Reitman (@JasonReitman) January 16, 2019
It’s not yet clear if Aykroyd, Hudson or Murray will be involved – Ramis sadly passed away in 2014 – but Reitman does have a script in the works with the film due for release in 2020. “This is very early, and I want the film to unwrap like a present,” he said when EW asked for details. “We have a lot of wonderful surprises and new characters for the audience to meet.”
This is a bit of a blow to fans of the all-female Ghostbusters directed by Paul Feig and starring Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Melissa McCarthy. “I have so much respect for what Paul created with those brilliant actresses, and would love to see more stories from them,” said Reitman when asked about the reboot. “However, this new movie will follow the trajectory of the original film.”
The big question will be, will Bill Murray be involved? We know Murray’s fellow SNL alumnus Dan Aykroyd, who co-wrote the original, will be up for it. He’s been trying to make a third film for nearly three decades, but Murray has always been the impasse.
In 2014, Murray suggested the script Aykroyd and Ramis had for Ghostbusters 3 just wasn’t up to the original film. “Those guys, Danny and Harold, were at the top of their game [for the first movie]," he told Variety. "They were burning nitro at that moment. Unless you have a really clear vision, you’re always trying to recreate that."
Will this new script be hot enough to tempt Murray? Reitman is coming off disappointing flop The Front Runner, and while he’s made funny films in the past like Juno and Young Adult, most of the comedic energy has emanated from writer Diablo Cody's script. By contrast, the films Reitman wrote himself (Labour Day; Up in the Air; Men, Women & Children) feature considerably fewer laughs.
If he finds himself stuck, Reitman can always consult his father Ivan, who’ll produce Ghostbusters 3, although it sounds like he didn't have any notes for his son's script. "Literally, I was crying by the end of it, it was so emotional and funny.”
Ghostbusters 3 will be released 2020; Ghostbusters' on its 30th anniversary