Ghostbusters 3 Still Moving Foward, Script Will Be Rewritten Following Harold Ramis's Death

Sony's Ghostbusters III may not start filming in the spring after all, but that won't stop it from moving forward in spite of the death of Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II writer Harold Ramis yesterday. The Hollywood reporter claims that the film remains on track so far (of course, their definition of "on-track" is for a 2015 shoot, not the spring or summer 2014 that had been rumored and discussed by franchise star Dan Aykroyd), but that the studio are scrambling to rewrite in the wake of Ramis's death, because he and the other original Ghostbusters were set to make what they describe as a cameo appearance in the film. According to THR, that includes Bill Murray, who was reportedly the lone holdout for years and estranged from Ramis for part of that time. Whether the remaining Ghostbusters will cameo without Egon or whether the idea will be written out entirely is anybody's guess. "He was always great to bounce something off of, and that will certainly be missed," an inside source told the trade of Ramis. "But [his passing] won't affect the script," which he did not write. Ghostbusters III will be the rare project featuring the squad that Ramis did not have a hand in writing; he previously wrote or contributed heavily to the writing of the Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters: The Sanctum of Slime video games as well as The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters animated TV series and video games tied to both animated and live-action movie projects. That alone may have been enough to stall the project, had Ramis passed away mid-script, so ultimately the studio may have dodged a bullet that he was content to take his significant cut of the profits from the film (also contractually afforded to Murray, Aykroyd and Ghostbusters/Ghostbusters II director Ivan Reitman) and let somebody else make it. Jonah Hill and Emma Stone are rumored to be under consideration for major roles in the sequel, which would effectively reboot the franchise as it would follow an entirely new group of Ghostbusters running the company following the retirement of the original quartet.