(CBR) Nearly lost in the flurry of weekend reports about who might replace Edgar Wright as director of Marvel”s “Ant-Man” is this potentially interesting tidbit: The Wrap contends that one of the candidates, “Zombieland” director Ruben Fleischer, is also under consideration by Sony Pictures for the fabled “Ghostbusters 3.”
Long championed by Dan Aykroyd, but dismissed by Bill Murray, a third “Ghostbusters” film has been in the works in one form or another since the late 1990s.
The project appeared to be picking up steam until it was derailed by the death in February of Harold Ramis, which led to a script rewrite and then contributed to the departure of franchise director Ivan Reitman. Chris Miller and Phil Lord, who helmed “The LEGO Movie” and “21 Jump Street,” were quickly mentioned as possible replacements, but they reportedly walked away from the film.
Reitman, who remains a producer on “Ghostbusters 3,” told SPINOFF in April that rebooting the franchise doesn”t appeal to him, but he finds something interesting in “picking up a story that has a generational shift in it.”
“I think there”s an appropriate story to tell,” he said. “The world of ghost-busting, just as a concept in terms of its equipment and vehicles, and the sort of spirituality of it, and the metaphysical idea of it, and guys working together, operating like fireman, [those are] ideas there”s a contemporary opportunity for.”