Ghostbusters 3 to shoot in 2013

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Ghostbusters 3 seems to be having a more tortured existence than a ghost locked deep inside the 'busters Containment Unit.

First, Dan Aykroyd said they had an excellent script , which Bill Murray promptly shredded .

Sigourney Weaver said that a decent script may well exist, but if it does, she hadn't read it.

Then Aykroyd announced that Bill was out .

But then Bill said he might do it , if they rewrote the script.

Then Dan hired the writer of Men In Black 3 to create a completely new draft.

And now, finally, it looks like they've got a script that's worthy of shooting. Only trouble is, Bill's out again.

"We've got a brilliant new writer [ Etan Cohen ] on it and we'll be passing the torch onto a [ new ] generation," Aykroyd said.

"We're working on it to make it just right to satisfy our fans. I'm confident we'll be in production in the next year."

"We've got the studio on side. We've tried a few concepts which weren't right but now we've got a good structure and will make it happen," he continued.

Asked if Bill Murray was on board, Aykroyd replied: "No, I can tell you he won't be involved."

"It's sad but we're passing it on to a new generation. Ghostbusters 3 can be a successful movie without Bill."

"My preference would be to have him involved but at this point he doesn't seem to be coming and we have to move on. It's time to make the third one."

If you read all of those links above, you see a very sad pattern forming.

Dan says the project has a great script, which will shoot in the next year. Then someone from the franchise pops up to say that it doesn't and they won't. Then Dan responds that they're doing it for the fans, and they'll write another draft. Then the cycle starts all over again.

Let's hope that this time, the project can actually move forward. Either that, or it should be left to die in peace. And then shot in the face with a laser-cannon if it tries to come back to life again.

Sam Ashurst is a London-based film maker, journalist, and podcast host. He's the director of Frankenstein's Creature, A Little More Flesh + A Little More Flesh 2, and co-hosts the Arrow Podcast. His words have appeared on HuffPost, MSN, The Independent, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, and many more, as well as of course for us here at 12DOVE.