Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent

Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent

            On June 16^th, 1989, Ghostbusters 2 was released into theaters. Ghostbusters 2 was of course the long-awaited sequel of Ghostbusters that was released on June 7^th 1984. It was spoken about right away when Ghostbusters 2 was released into theaters of when the next sequel “Ghostbusters 3” would arrive inside movie theaters. Below is the timeline that the Ghostbusters 3 project went down. An unused Ghostbusters 3 project that would have brought the Ghostbusters to Hell facing off against Hades, and a Ghostbusters 3 project that in the latter stages of the planning for the Ghostbuster 3 project that got the title Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent it was planned for this film to be an animated adventure!

 

Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent Timeline

·         Ghostbusters III: Hellbent is an unused script written by Dan Aykroyd and Tom Davis

 

·         Development For Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent was between 1992-2007

 

·         June 1989: While during a press tour of Ghostbusters 2 Dan Aykroyd was at of the possibility of Ghostbusters 3. Aykroyd felt there was no limit of the possibility of a third movie but he knew the rest of the team of Ghostbusters & Ghostbusters 2 had different opinions.

 

·         January 1992: Columbia Pictures touches base with Ghostbusters & Ghostbusters 2 Director Ivan Reitman on the possibility of Ghostbusters 3 one Reitman abandoned his plans on directing a biopic about the Marx Brother

 

·         August 1993: Inside an issue of Playboy a interview was conducted with Aykroyd while he was on the set of "Coneheads" and the subject matter of a third installment of the Ghostbusters Franchise came up. Dan Aykroyd stated inside that Playboy article ""If I could get that team together, it would be a real dream, because I think there's a great story to be told. But it won't be for a while."

 

·         Febuary 1994: Dan Aykroyd appeared on WWOR Channel 9 News and when he was asked there about Ghostbusters 3 Dan responded that he has a story in mind for a third installment of the Ghostbusters Franchise but it was all a matter of getting the others together once again!

 

·         September 1996: Dan Aykroyd's interest in making Ghostbusters 3 was once again woke up after the release of the comedy "Tommy Boy" and Dan started talking with Sony Pictures about a third installment of Ghostbusters. Dan Aykroyd's idea for a Ghostbusters 3 would involve a story that consisted of a new and younger team of Ghostbusters. Dan already had the late Chris Farley in mind but the late Harold Ramis wasn't sure about coming back to co-write with Aykroyd but he still pitched ideas for a possible Ghostbusters 3. Dan Aykroyd recruited Tom Davis to hel him write the next draft. Harold Ramis mentioned Dan Aykroyd was writing a script with a whole new younger and more handsome Ghostbusters team and Ramis likened Ghostbusters 3 to more like Ghostbusters: The Next Generation.

 

·         Mid-September 1996: Aykroyd confirmed he finished the Ghostbusters 3 first draft and spoke with Chris Farley about joining the cast of Ghostbusters 3 in a specific role that Dan Aykroyd wrote for him inside the Ghostbusters 3 script. Aykroyd also makes the statement that Will Smith would also make an awesome new Ghostbuster.

 

·         Aykroyd starts working on the second draft and Harold Ramis began negotiation for reprising his role as Egon Spingler while Murray and Weaver passed on the new film.

 

·         November 1996: The rumor the Oscar character from Ghostbusters 2 would come back in Ghostbusters 3 in a bigger adult role.

 

·         February 1997: A Ghostbusters 3 Story Treatment is completed!

 

·         April 1997: A report came out that Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis wrote a Ghostbusters 3 outline that introduces a new Ghostbusters Team and Aykroyd name dropped Chris Farley as part of the new Ghostbusters Team.

 

·         November 1997: A report came out that Bill Murray was offered a 5-Minute cameo in this version of Ghostbusters 3 but Murray decline so Aykroyd began to conduct rewrites without Murray being included.

 

·         December 1997: Chris Farley passes away!

 

·         January 1998: John Calley who was the current Head of Sony Pictures announced that he had a Ghostbusters sequel among his plans for running Sony Pictures Entertainment.

 

·         It was announced the Ghostbusters 3 cast demanded more than 40% of Sony's receipts but everyone except Murray all backed down to a more reasonable price and Bill Murray wanted a cut of the gross not to star in the movie.

 

·         February 1998: Ayroyd mad the comment that Harold Ramis and him had a treatment for Ghostbusters 3 but once again Murray and Reitman weren't interested.

 

·         March 1998: Will Smith was rumored to be in talks of starring in Ghostbusters 3

 

·         April 1998: There was a report that the first draft for Ghostbusters 3 was a disaster and a new writer was brought to work with Aykroyd and Ramis in late March 1998 while Bill Murray was reconsidering and it was still unlikely that Sigourney Weaver was still unlikely to return.

 

·         July 1998: Reports came out Ghostbusters 3 plot would consist of Egon and Ray's attempt to continue running the Ghostbusters after Peter Venkman leaves with Dana Barratt, and that the main villian would possibly be Hades the Greek God of the Underworld.

 

·         August 1998: There were reports Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis were now working together on a screenplay for Ghostbusters 3

 

·         September 1998: Rumors sturred about that George Fenton would Score Ghostbusters 3

 

·         October 1998: There were rumors flying around that Jason Alexander was spoken to about a part as a Ghostbuster in Ghostbusters 3 and that Jeff Daniel was also in mind as a new Ghostbuster for Ghostbusters 3. However Jason Alexander later denied any and all communication on being involved or potentially involved with Ghostbusters 3.

 

·         January 1999: Harold Ramis confirmed Dan Aykroyd was writing Ghostbusters 3 and admitted Aykroyd wrote 2 scripts but played it off as just a hobby. Ramis speculated if a new movie had any original cast members in it that the original cast members that would star in a potentional Ghostbusters 3 would only be mentors to new cast members that would carry the movie franchise furhter.

 

·         February 1999: Ramis admits to talking with Dan Aykroyd about Ghostbusters 3 on a regular basis along with the studio about a Ghostbusters 3 while Bill Murray stayed elusive with the idea of a Ghostbusters 3 and Reit was stood on the side on the issue. Harold revealed that the Dream Plan was for Aykroyd and him to produce it with Harold Ramis directing and the story would be about the Ghostbusters recruiting a brand new team!

 

·         Chicago Radio Show reported Harold Ramis won't do Ghostbusters 3 without Bill Murray and Murray said he wouldn't star in Ghostbusters 3 without his character dying in the first two minutes of the movie so he would be able to star in the rest of Ghostbusters 3 as a ghost.

 

·         Actors considered to star in the new Ghostbusters Team being put together for Ghostbusters 3 were Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Will Smith, Chris Rock, and Ben Stiller

 

·         March 1999: A Ghostbusters 3 Complete Full Draft is Completed

 

·         June 16 1999: Ernie Hudson during an interview mentioned while he was on the set of "Airheads" Harold Ramis told him that Sony Pictures wanted more Ghostbusters movies to happen.

 

·         Inside Entertainment Weekly, Ivan Reitman revealed that Dan Aykroyd came to his house three weeks ago in order to talk about Ghostbusters 3 and the ideawas to have Harold Ramis directing Ghostbusters 3 and hand Ivan Reitman come on to the project as a producer.

 

·         July 1999: Ivan Reitman commented he would only be producing Ghostbusters 3

 

·         November 1999: Dan Aykroyd comments that the chances of Ghostbusters 3 seemed slim and Aykroyd attribued this to Sony attempting to make too make too many bargins because of the wake of "The Blair Witch Project" and Ghostbusters 3 would cost $120 million in order to make.

 

·         May 2000: Inside Jam!section of the Calgary Sun Ivan Reitman announced he could solve Ghostbusters 3 script problems and he was uncertain about making deals with Sony Pictures along with the Ghostbusters 3 cast!

 

·         June 2001: "Evolution" was a box office failure which stomped out all the lingering enthusiasm for Ghostbusters 3

 

·         November 2005: Harold Ramis announced that indeed Chris Farley, Chris Rock, and Ben Stiller were all in mind to play new Ghostbusters in Ghostbusters 3

 

·         June 2006: There was talks about a CGI Antimated Version of Ghostbusters 3 and a Limited Revision was Finished.

 

·         February 2007: Dan Ayroyd mentions they were looking into making the Ghostbusters 3 story into an antimated movie!

Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent was eventually scrapped by Sony Pictures. However, all over the

news media whenever Dan Ayroyd the actor who played Ray Stantz in the first two Ghostbusters movies kept the hope alive that a Ghostbusters 3 would take place at some point in the future during the timeframe of 2007 and November 19, 2021 when Ghostbusters: Afterlife was released. Everyone knows Jason Reitman stepped into his father’s footsteps to create Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Everyone knows Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman’s father was a producer and director on the first two Ghostbusters movies back in the 1980s and it took Jason Reitman to stepped into his father’s shoes in order for all of us Ghostbusters fans to have the closest thing to Ghostbusters 3 with Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

            Aykroyd was on a Ghostbusters 3 campaign for over a decade however even though Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent was scrapped even before Jason Reitman stepped up to take the wheel and create Ghostbusters: Afterlife. I am just guessing but I believe if it wasn’t for Dan Aykroyd keeping the vision alive then Ghostbusters: Afterlife could have never been the success it was especially with the Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel coming out on December 20, 2023, titled Ghostbusters: Firehouse.

            The storyline for Ghostbusters 3 always had the subject matter in it that the original Ghostbusters team retired because of the fact Bill Murray didn’t want to be part of the Ghostbusters 3 project. The idea was to have a new Ghostbuster team, and like in the action movie Expendables 3 in Ghostbusters 3 the original Ghostbusters Team would reunite to save the new Ghostbusters team that would be in trouble.

            The setting for Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent would take place in hell when the Ghostbusters would be sucked into hell. Inside the Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent storyline the hell setting would be an alternate hell dimension of New York. It would turn out that hell is getting too full of spirits and spirits were escaping. Inside the Manhattan Hell Dimension the Ghostbusters Team would run into a Donald Trump type character which is funny now since Donald Trump all these years later during a Ghostbusters 3 rumor field Donald Trump would become President of the United States.

            The Blair Witch Project being such a success on such a limited budget made Sony Pictures really question whether or not to spend such a budget on what it would take to create Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent. Then when Bill Murray who played Dr. Peter Venkman in the first two Ghostbusters movies wouldn’t commit to Ghostbusters 3 and a laundry list of other original Ghostbusters Franchise cast wouldn’t commit Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent got scrapped only for Jason Reitman to bring Ghostbusters Fans what they have been waiting for since June of 1989.

            It would have been interesting to see what Ghostbuster 3: Hellbent could have been especially if they were able to get all the actors they wanted years back, and to see the Ghostbusters travel to HELL and see that Alternative Dimension of Manhattan. Then see how Hades would be involved inside the Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent storyline. It would be neat to see what could have been in today’s world but in all honesty Ghostbusters: Afterlife proves that everything is better in time!