Sony is ploughing ahead with a brand new Ghostbusters universe, set to commence with the Paul Feig-directed female-led reboot and followed up by a more “male-centric” sequel. Regardless of who is attached to write, direct, produce or star in any of the above – or indeed the other two movies expected to complete the rebranded series – that’s not going to stop the Internet from casting its judgment.
Or, other creatives from whipping out 4700-word pitches for a Ghostbusters 3 that circles back around to the first two and completely resolves the unfinished trilogy. Nope, nothing stopped Max Landis, the scribe behind Chronicle and about a million brilliant Tweets, from scratching out a preliminary pitch for a third instalment.
Referenced last year in a series of Tweets, Landis has since taken it upon himself to post the entire fleshed-out treatment to his blog. The ideas included in what he terms “fan fiction” hark back to the 1984 Ghostbusters and its 1989 sequel and rope in a familiar roster of characters. Slimer, the green wobbling spectre is back, as is Gozer, whose worshippers quite fancied bringing about the apocalypse.
For the full treatment, head on over to Landis’ blog, or to catch a brief whiff of the overall pitch check out the opening few paragraphs below. Now, how long before Sony snaps this up for another splintered timeline version of Ghostbusters?
We start in the 1920s, where we witness cult leader Ivo Shandor proclaim the prophecy of the two comings of Gozer, one a failure, and the second thirty years later, to destroy the world. One of his followers speaks out, and is killed for his insubordination…becoming the spirit who is eventually known to us as Slimer.
Slam to 2016.
Ghostbusters was a national franchise, privately owned and government subsidized. But the lack of extradimensional invaders meant that there was ultimately a very limited amount of ghosts to bust, and the very optimistic national expansion slowly depleted the Buster’s funds (“Did the Atlanta chapter really need a helicopter?”). The Ghostbusters remain iconic, but despite the merchandise, cartoon show, etc, the company itself is bankrupt, on the verge of collapse.
Only two houses remain open; there hasn’t been a legitimate call in more than ten years. The original Busters are for the most part long gone; Venkman took the money and disappeared into seclusion, Winston Zeddemore quit the busters in 1991 and has since become a Richard Branson style billionaire, and Egon Spengler accidentally ascended to a higher plane of existence, leaving only the increasingly delusional Ray Stantz, who has run the company into the ground….
