When I was a kid, Ghostbusters was my favorite movie, cartoon, and toy line, by a wide margin. My older brother was a Transformers/Voltron guy, and I transitioned right from Care Bears ( I WAS YOUNG!) to Ghostbusters. I thought it was kinda spooky, funny, and cool all rolled into one property. I even loved the sequel Ghostbusters 2 because there was more Slimer, slime in general, and I was part of the Nickelodeon generation, so I was REALLY into anything that was slimy. Weird, but I was. Anyway, as I’ve grown older, I realized a few things: The Ghostbusters cartoon was kinda shitty because it was Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters, not the Ghostbusters, and that second movie was retarded. It was great for a kid, but it really has no staying power. It also infuriates me that G2 is on Netflix streaming but not G1.
Now every few months, we get word from Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd that their new script for G3 is going to be great. I am sorry but Ramis hasn’t written or directed anything decent since Analyze This. I don’t even consider it a good film, but I will admit that it largely was considered good. And Aykroyd hasn’t written or directed anything good since the first Ghostbusters, so I don’t have a lot of faith in these two shepherding a new film in the series even if its with the assistance of two writers from The Office. Basically, I don’t want this movie to be made.
Bill Murray seems to be the only person in Hollywood on my side. I trust his opinion and think he’s one of the smartest working comedic actors maybe ever. He has range, talent, and knows how to avoid a shitty project for the most part. He hasn’t liked any of the scripts, or rewrites thus far and said that he doesn’t want to do it unless the script is perfect. If that is the case I think two of the following things should happen:
1) stop trying to make this movie. Bill Murray is the big gun of the series and it doesn’t seem like he’s dying to get back to it, so just don’t do it. Moving ahead without him means we’ll get a Ghostbusters: The Next Generation and I don’t want that either without a proper torch passing. I can live without seeing Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel as new Busters with Aykroyd playing their boss. Trust me that’s what it will be.
2) Bring Bill into the writers room. I know he doesn’t really write as much as he just acts, but his take on what should happen should be the most important thing at this point. If you don’t believe me, look at his IMDB credits for the last 15 years and then look at everyone else’s. Game. Set. Match.
I want to see a Ghostbusters 3 movie in my lifetime, but only if it’s perfect. I don’t need to see a threequel 25 years later that could have just been Evolution 2, and that’s the feeling I get from everything I’ve heard thus far. I hate what happens to franchises that just get licensed and sequeled to no end. Terminator 1 and 2 are perfect, but the franchise has been run through the ringer with T3, Salvation, and the Sarah Connor Chronicles that it doesn’t hold the weight that it used to and in your mind Terminator is just like anything else not. No longer a standard bearer. Ghostbusters would end up having the same thing happen if quality is not put into the script. They’ll probably make the next one with a trilogy in mind and then we’ll go from one great film, decent sequel and cartoon, to one great film, decent sequel, decent cartoon, and shitty trilogy. I can live without the latter. Can’t you?