It would seem that the development hell of Ghostbusters 3 has hit another hurdle, with Dan Aykroyd confirming Bill Murray does not want to make the sequel.
Aykroyd has been trying to get the sequel made since 1999 when he wrote a draft of the script. He recently discussed Bill Murray's unwillingness to be involved which halted possible production, 'At this point it's in suspended animation. The studio [ Sony ], the director Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis feel that must be a way to do it, but Bill Murray will not do the movie.'
Despite this, Aykroyd is keen to stress that he holds no grudge against Murray for his decision, 'He's a friend first, a colleague second. We have a deep personal relationship that transcends business and he doesn't want to know.'
With rumours of Bill Murray being possibly recast, Aykroyd was quick to counter, 'We're not going to do a movie that exploits the franchise. The script has to be perfect, there is still interest from the studio.'
There's also the possibility Sony may just reboot the franchise, since the original concept of Ghostbusters 3 saw the old gang passing down their proton packs to a new generation.
Ghostbusters II was released in 1989, five years after the original movie. The two films went on to gross nearly half a billion dollars at the box office.
