Rumor: Emma Stone and Jonah Hill offered roles in ‘Ghostbusters 3’

(CBR) Is new life being breathed into “Ghostbusters 3”? If a pair of news stories collected by Collider are accurate, then the answer is a fairly emphatic “yes.”

First, the NBC affiliate in Cleveland, WKYC, reports that an unnamed Sony executive confirmed the city is being considered as a shooting location for the third installment of the franchise. On the subject, ComingSoon.net said WKYC added the film might begin shooting there next spring.

Meanwhile, SchmoesKnow reported a rumor that Jonah Hill and Emma Stone have been offered roles as Jeremy and Anna, although no description of those actual parts were given.

Dan Aykroyd, who co-wrote the original “Ghostbusters” and starred along with Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson, has been carrying the torch for a third film for years. Murray has reportedly declined involvement, but when Aykroyd talked to Larry King earlier this year, he said there is a place for his former co-start if he changes his mind. In that same interview, Aykroyd said the latest script revolves around researchers at Columbia accidentally discovering something that threatens our reality.

“We”re going to have to cast. We need four new Ghostbusters. We need four new Columbia students,” he said in May. “It”s based upon new research that”s being done in particle physics by the young men and women at Columbia University. Basically, there”s research being done that … I can say that the world or our dimension that we live in, our four planes of existence, length, height, width, and time, become threatened by some of the research that is being done. And Ghostbusters, new Ghostbusters have to come and solve the problem.”

Director Ivan Reitman and Ramis are still expected to return in some capacity for the new film, but all of that – and these rumors – are up in the air until something official gets announced.