Dan Aykroyd has waited two decades for the "Ghostbusters" film franchise to come back from Hollywood's great beyond, and now it's so close he can feel it in his bones.
"I'm just waiting for that magic phone call," Aykroyd said with a wistful smile. "One day, the producer calls you and says, 'We have a production number,' and that's the real green light. And it's coming soon, I hope. . . . We could be in production by winter."
No Hollywood moneymaking franchise every really gives up the ghost (just ask that dusted-off archaeologist Indiana Jones), but 25 years have passed since the first "Ghostbusters" film and 20 since its lone sequel, and there's reason to wonder whether the franchise's quaint paranormal high jinks would even appeal to a "Harry Potter" generation accustomed to more sophisticated spookery.
Still, Aykroyd and Columbia Pictures are true believers when it comes to the franchise's 21st century afterlife, and one of the main reasons is the upcoming "Ghostbusters: The Video Game," a fact that says a lot about the changing physics of the modern entertainment marketplace.
On June 16, Atari will release the much-anticipated "Ghostbusters" title, which has taken on a mythical aura for gamers after years of delays, a budget north of $12 million and the number of times the property changed hands before landing at troubled Atari. Despite all that, there is intense consumer interest in the game (especially since the maneuvers required to "trap" ghosts lend themselves to some novel game play), and it brought together the core of the original cast for voice work -- two facts that have restarted the dormant "Ghostbusters" film machinery.
Ivan Reitman, producer and director of the two films, said the video game essentially hit the restart button on the franchise.
"The game itself, and the quick acceptance and intense interest in it, reminded all the creative participants that we have something special here," he said last week. "I think the game, along with the anniversary of the first movie and the Blu-ray release of the two movies [on June 16], all of it reminded us that it's kind of silly that we're not being more active about it."
"Ghostbusters" as a property is controlled by a five-way partnership: Columbia Pictures, Reitman and three of the stars -- Bill Murray, Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. Each has a veto on a new project. Now, for the first time, all five think a third movie should be made. There's some agreement on a plot that involves the original stars, joined by a "new generation" of paranormal investigators.
