Ghostbusters 3 has been lingering in development hell for quite some time now, and it appears it’s time for another nothing update from Dan Aykroyd. He previously stated that production would begin this spring, but then we heard that Sony wasn’t exactly keen on moving forward without Bill Murray’s involvement. A script was initially commissioned by Bad Teacher scribes Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, but now it appears that Aykroyd is still working on the screenplay:

"The script must be perfect. We cannot release a film that is any less than that. We have more work to do."

Rather than give firm timetables, it appears Aykroyd understands that they’ve got quite a while to go before they can think about production. Hit the jump for more from Akyroyd, including the suggestion that Murray could be replaced, the possible return of Rick Moranis, and what Aykroyd had to say about Murray supposedly shredding the script.

Given Bill Murray’s reluctance to participate in a follow-up, Aykroyd went on to hint that a different actor could play the character of Peter Venkman. This is a terrible idea for a number of reasons. If Murray declines to reprise the role, it’d make much more sense to replace Venkman with a different character than have some other actor take on the part. Nevertheless, during an interview with Empire, Aykroyd continued that he hopes to lure Moranis out of retirement for the project:

"If we can get the script to Ghostbusters 3 right, then it would definitely have Moranis as a major component. None of us would want to do the movie without having him as a participant."

This seems unlikely, as Moranis wouldn’t even return for the Ghostbusters video game a few years ago. No matter, Aykroyd went on to deny claims that Murray had sent him back the shredded Ghostbusters 3 script with a note that said “No-one wants to pay money to see fat, old men chasing ghosts":

"Bill Murray is not capable of such behavior. This is simply something that would not be in his nature. We have a deep, private personal relationship that transcends business. We communicate frequently and his position on the involvement in Ghostbusters 3 has been made clear and I respect that. But Bill has too much positive estimation of my writing skills to shred the work."

This coming from the screenwriter of Nothing but Trouble. I’m pulling for Aykroyd and Co. to deliver something fun, fresh, and worthy of the Ghostbusters franchise, but it’s unlikely that we’ll see this anytime soon. I don’t think time is of the essence (Ghostbusters II was over 20 years ago), so however long it takes them to get the script in ship-shape is perfectly fine.