'Ghostbusters 3' Moving Forward Despite Harold Ramis' Death

While Hollywood and fans of great comedies everywhere continue to mourn the sudden passing of Harold Ramis, there's been some movement on a major project he was involved in. That would be the long-developing Ghostbusters 3, which has been in various stages of development forever without really going anywhere. Bill Murray not wanting to have anything to do with it hasn't killed the project, and now the film will continue to move forward despite the loss of Ramis.

THR reports changes will be made to Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky's script, which is said to focus on a new team of Ghostbusters. Ramis and the original Ghostbusters were to only have small roles, anyway, but with Dan Akroyd and Ernie Hudson the only two involved one has to wonder if any should appear.

The chances of this causing the project to be reconsidered entirely are slim. Rather, the inability of Akroyd, director Ivan Reitman, and the writers to come up with a workable script will probably sink it first. Plans had been for filming to begin this year, but that's looking less likely.

And thanks to Ash Vickers over at MegaCynics for the touching Harold Ramis tribute image above. This Twinkie's for you.

Read More

RIP Harold Ramis, Dead at 69

Writer and director Harold Ramis, best known for co-writing and playing Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters, has passed away the age of 69. The Chicago native had been suffering from autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis, and succumbed to the rare disease early this morning, surrounded by family. Ramis had been one of the most successful comedy filmmakers of the 1980s and '90s with instant classics such as Caddyshack, Stripes, Ghostbusters, National Lampoon's Vacation, and Groundhog Day, the latter two films he directed. He had still been active recently, directing Year One back in 2009, but slowed down in 2010 when his health problems began.

I practically grew up on the movies of Harold Ramis and still them amongst my favorites. It's clear that his work had a profound influence on many of the comedy directors working today. We here at Punch Drunk Critics send our condolences to his family and friends.

Read More

Ghostbusters 3 Confirmation?!?!

Finally after months and months of speculation we have some hard evidence of a Ghostbusters sequel in the works from an original cast member. Harold Ramis sat down with Heeb magazine and had this to say

"Something's going to happen," he said. "Dan [Aykroyd] did write a spec GB3 screenplay a few years ago, but no one was motivated to pursue it. Now, 25 years after the original, there seems to be some willingness to proceed and apparently a substantial public appetite for a sequel. We'll introduce some new young Ghostbusters, and all the old guys will be in it, too. Think Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future ... GB3 is progressing with plans to shoot next summer and release in 2011."

Well it looks like confirmation of all we've been hearing with Venkman and the gang handing the reigns over to, most likely, Seth Rogen and his crew. It's really too bad they can't just make another regular GB movie as their is plenty to cover as is evident with the game released earlier this year. I love the Ghostbusters and didn't want their final scene to start with them riding the Statue of Liberty down fifth avenue, so needless to say I'm up for a sequel even if it isn't exactly what I was expecting. How do you feel about this news?

Read More

Ghostbusters 3 or Police Academy 8?

I am extremely excited for the upcoming Ghostbusters video game, it's visually stunning and really seems to capture the theme and feel of the original movies. I wish the same could be said for the new movie that's in development. We have heard everything from Ghostbusters in space to the Judd Apatow crew taking the reigns and honestly we have yet to hear one promising bit of information save for the fact that the original crew is set to return. Well it looks like that Jr. Ghostbuster's club rumor may be true according to Ray Stantz himself, Dan Akroyd, who was quoted by /Film saying the following:

“There will be a whole new generation that has to be trained, and that whole new generation will be led by an individual who you’ll all love when you meet him but I’m not going to tell you anything yet,” teased Aykroyd. “They’ll be lots of cadets, boys and girls, who’ll be learning how to use the psychotron, the accelerators and all the new stuff, the neuron splitter, which is going to be the interplaner, interceptor and all these great tools that they’re going to have, to flip from dimension to dimension.”

I may be misreading this, but I got in my head a visual of Ghostbusters meets Police Academy, if that's the case I'd rather they not make the film. Honestly at this point I don't think they should make the film at all and only further the story through other mediums like the video game. I mean honestly have you seen Harold Ramis, Bill Murray and Dan Akroyd latley? Not that they were ever Alpha male type action stars, hell that was part of the joke, but they have really hit the wall at this point and would probably just look pathetic in the jumpsuits. Ernie Hudson's probably the only one that would remain convincing. I'll end this post by saying I love the Ghostbusters, even Ghostbusters II, and I'll pray that I'm wrong about this third installment. Until then here's hoping that the franchise isn't ruined for some late career paychecks.

Read More