Considering the on and off again saga of Ghostbusters 3 has been going on for so long, it seems pretty surprising that the news broke a few hours ago as an afterthought in an article about another movie.
Deadline was reporting on a series of films that are coming up for production, including a film called Draft Day that is going to be directed by Ivan Reitman and will star Kevin Costner. Costner has a lot of movies coming out in the next couple years, and his schedule is tight. That led to the following from Deadline, which nonchalantly mentions that Ghostbusters 3 will actually start filming in the summer of 2013!
Let’s take each one separately. Reitman and partner Tom Pollock developed the Moneyball-esque Draft Day, the fictional account of the events that take place on a draft day for the perennial also-ran Buffalo Bills. Costner would play the team’s GM, but timing is a major challenge for this film.
Paramount chose not to make it in the small window that Reitman has before he is expected to finally get the long-gestating Ghostbusters reboot in front of the cameras next summer for Sony Pictures (sans Bill Murray). Costner–who has made more quality sports films than any active actor–Field of Dreams, Tin Cup, Bull Durham and For Love Of The Game–is also very busy. He’s filming the Jack Ryan relaunch, and after that he has the Luc Besson pic Three Days To Kill, about a dying assassin who has a short window to clean up professional and personal loose ends. It would be tough to find room to squeeze in the football film and finish before Reitman goes back to Ghostbusters duty.