"Ghostbusters 3" has gone through so many permutations that it can be hard to keep track of, so we’ll try to make this brief. Basically, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis had first envisaged the movie as reteam of all the classic characters, until Bill Murray made it clear he had no interest in coming back. Then long developing sequel then pivoted to be a story about the original Ghostbusters passing the torch to a new generation. Now the story has been tweaked once again, as yet another director — following Phil Lord and Chris Miller, and Ruben Fleischer, who entered the pool after the originally slated Ivan Reitman exited — is eyeing the project.
THR reports that "Bridesmaids" and "The Heat" helmer Paul Feig is the frontrunner for the job, even though talks at this point are "casual." But perhaps the more interesting nugget of info is that "Ghostbusters 3" is now being described as a reboot, that will center on a female group of supernatural Slimer hunters. That concept certainly plays into Feig’s strengths, as he tends to focus on female driven comedies (there’s the aforementioned movies, plus his next effort is the Melissa McCarthy led "Spy"). And if we have to go down this path of redoing the franchise, at least it’s with a fresh twist, and it’s perhaps an acknowledgement by a major studio that female led blockbusters can be viable.
So, does this mean none of the original Ghostbusters will be back? The word "reboot" certainly indicates taking things in a new direction, but given the nostalgia factor, we’d wager Aykroyd and co. will pop up in some fashion. Whether or not this one one makes a spring shoot in 2015 we’ll have to wait and see, but with the hunt for a director now on, it looks like Sony is trying to make that happen.