Columbia Pictures No need to believe in UFOs, astral projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full trance mediums, the Loch Ness monster and the theory of Atlantis.
Just believe that the allure of nostalgia and a monster paycheck is strong enough to get Bill Murray to strap on that positron collider again.
Variety reports that Columbia Pictures is gearing up to bring another Ghostbusters film to the big screen, ideally featuring all four main characters from the 1984 blockbuster and its 1989 sequel—Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson.
Both '80s-era films were cowritten by Aykroyd and Ramis and directed by Ivan Reitman.
Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, both executive producers on The Office, have been tapped to pen the new installment—after which, Columbia will approach its would-be leading men.
Eisenberg and Stupnitsky recently collaborated on the Ramis-directed comedy Year One. Despite a handful of small parts over the years in comedies such as Knocked Up and As Good as It Gets, Ramis—who also helmed three episodes of The Office last year—has had more of a career behind the camera since his Egon Spengler days.
While the project remains officially unconfirmed, the general consensus is that getting Murray to suit up after all these years will be the hard part—although the Oscar-nominated thesp deigned to contribute his Dr. Peter Venkman voice for the new Ghostbusters: The Video Game.
After helping to keep the dream alive for the past two decades, Aykroyd told a radio station last year that the idea of another Ghostbusters sequel was still alive and kicking. But...
"It will not happen as a live-action [movie], ’cause Billy [Murray] will not come on, in the live-action stage anymore for it," the veteran character actor said. "But he will voice his part, and we are looking to do it as a CGI animated project."
But who knows what will happen if the script stacks up?
Ghostbusters II didn't exactly recapture the magic of the original, which grossed $229.2 million (at '80s prices) at the box office, but it still brought in $112.5 million and millions more from home video sales.
Besides, even the lamest sequels are usually good for lines like, "Only a Carpathian would come back to life now and choose New York!"