Aykroyd says Ghostbusters 3 will go on without Murray (though it can’t, legally)

I haven’t reported much Ghostbusters 3 news in the past few years, mainly because THERE HASN’T BEEN ANY DAMNED NEWS. Sony and Aykroyd and everyone else want to make it, and there’ve been (multiple) finished scripts, but Bill Murray didn’t want to do it. And they couldn’t make the movie without Murray. Today, the big story going around is that Dan Aykroyd, in an interview with Metro said that the movie was back on, with new writers, and Bill Murray written out of the story:

“We’ve got a brilliant new writer [Tropic Thunder’s Etan Cohen, reportedly] on it and we’ll be passing the torch on to a new generation,” Aykroyd said. “We’re working on it to make it just right to satisfy our fans. I’m confident we’ll be in production in the next year.”

As for Murray, he added, “It’s sad but we’re passing it on to a new generation. Ghostbusters 3 can be a successful movie without Bill. My preference would be to have him involved but at this point he doesn’t seem to be coming and we have to move on. It’s time to make the third one.”

Thing is, the reason they couldn’t make it before wasn’t that they wanted Bill Murray to be in it and Bill Murray just didn’t want to. Or at least, that was only part of the reason. The other part is that legally, they can’t make it unless all the principles – Aykroyd, Ramis, Reitman, and Murray – all agree to make it. So unless Bill Murray has agreed to sign off on it, I don’t see how this is news and not just Dan Aykroyd speaking wishfully like he has been doing for the last three years now. While yes, it’s quite possible that Dan Aykroyd knows something about this that we don’t (that Murray has already signed on, or that he’s going to, or some legal loophole), also keep in mind that Dan Aykroyd is mild to moderately insane. As evidenced by the clip below, and also the fact that he really really wants to make a Ghostbusters 3.

Banner picture source: DFree / Shutterstock.com

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