Ghostbusters III Still Expected to Happen Without Harold Ramis
The Hollywood Reporter
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While we’re all still mourning from the announcement that the wonderful Harold Ramis has passed on, Sony Pictures chimed in today with a quick update on the status of the long talked about Ghostbusters III.
According to THR, director Ivan Reitman is scheduled to meet with Sony production brass in the coming days to assess how to move forward on the project that is in active development, according to sources. Ramis, who starred in the 1984 original and 1989 sequel alongside Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd, was poised to appear in a third outing in a cameo role — like Murray and Aykroyd — that set up a baton-passing to a trio of newcomers.
The script, written by “The Office” writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, will now need to be revamped.
“There will be some repercussions,” says a project insider.
A studio source downplayed the impact on the project, however, insisting that Ramis was involved in Ghostbusters III only minimally. Ramis, who co-wrote the first two Ghostbusters, held a first-dollar gross stake in the third film along with Reitman, Aykroyd, and Murray — a position that will revert to his estate. But no deals have been inked yet, and there have been signs that the principals instead would take break-even cuts in order to get the film off the ground.
“He was always great to bounce something off of, and that will certainly be missed,” the source says of Ramis. “But it won’t affect the script.”
Even before Ramis’ death, the script had not progressed enough for the film to begin shooting in 2014. Now, the studio will have to adjust without an on-screen assist from Ramis’ Dr. Egon Spengler.
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