'Ghostbusters' Sequel: Ernie Hudson Confirms He's Spoken To Director

Ghostbusters franchise star Ernie Hudson has spoken with filmmaker Jason Reitman about plans for an upcoming movie that will take place within the continuity of the '80s comedy staple.

During a visit to the set of the upcoming Spectrum original series L.A.'s Finest, Slashfilm asked Hudson whether he had been involved in the conversations yet, and the star confirmed that he has.

"I reached out to Jason," Hudson said. "I've talked to Jason. I've also had a conversation with Ivan [Reitman] just to congratulate him. They confirmed that the movie is definitely being made, because you know there's always been rumors with Ghostbusters the last 30 years. What that'll look like, they did not share."

Hudson, Dan Aykroyd, and the late Harold Ramis were long champions of a third Ghostbusters movie, but balked at the idea of making it without Bill Murray, who played Peter Venkman in the originals. Murray was historically less bullish on the idea, although he (as well as Aykroyd and Hudson) made a brief appearance in the Paul Feig Ghostbusters movie that aimed to set up a new timeline and a second set of Ghostbusters.

That movie disappointed at the box office after a production and promotion period marred by controversy, as angry fans cried foul at the idea of the new, all-female Ghostbusters team. In all likelihood, the movie would have had to be a masterpiece to overcome all the negative buzz and attacks by trolls on its trailers, Rotten Tomatoes reviews, and the rest. Instead, it earned 74% positive reviews -- but a lot, whether fresh or rotten on Rotten Tomatoes's review aggregator, were clustered in the middle, with a general message of "this is not a bad movie, but not a great one either."

it seems likely that the new movie will also feature a new team of Ghostbusters -- Aykroyd, Hudson, and Murray are a little old to be running around in jumpsuits for an entire film -- but being set in the original universe and not being all-female will theoretically give it at least some leeway with the most fanatical of the "Answer the Call" haters. That said, at this point it is not clear what, if any, role Hudson will have in the film.

"Nobody's offered me a job, but the reason I wanted to reach out to Jason, I remember him as a little kid on the set of Ghostbusters," Hudson said. "The fact that he's stepping into that, I think the fans have been wanting it so no matter what happens, I know it's going to be a great movie. I really respect him as a filmmaker. Obviously, I'd love to be a part of it but that hasn't so far presented itself. I know that the movie will be good."

Sony has the film dated for Summer 2020, as indicated by the teaser above, and the studio's plan is to begin shooting sometime in the next few months.

What do you think of this new Ghostbusters sequel? Let us know in the comments!