The renowned actor, alien-believer and skull-bottle vodka purveyor and Dan Aykroyd believes his creation Ghostbusters should be resurrected as a live-action Netflix show similar to Stranger Things. The only under works plan for continuation of Ghostbusters is an animation film being developed by Ivan Reitman, and there are no confirmed efforts to make a sequel to the 2016 live-action Ghostbusters film’s reboot.
Aykroyd had conceptualized Ghostbusters in the past to launch himself and fellow SNL alumni John Belushi, and he managed to convince Reitman about it. The film based about the hunters of supernatural entities in New York City arrived on the big screen with lead roles being essayed by himself, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis and it turned out to be a massive hit. The much-delayed sequel Ghostbusters 2 was an average hit, but, didn’t meet the expectations of the devoted fans and after that, the prospects of another Ghostbusters film seemed to die down (because Bill Murray didn’t want to be associated with it anymore). However, we saw Ghostbusters being revived in 2016 featuring an all-women cast and that resulted in a severe backlash from angry male fans. The reboot failed at the box-office, and it seemed to have killed the movie franchise.
However, Aykroyd is not willing to accept defeat about the decades-old idea and he believes that Ghostbusters can be revived without making another movie. He spoke to CinemaBlend and said that he could see Ghostbusters being recreated as a series on Netflix, possibly featuring younger versions of the iconic Ghostbusters characters:
Yes. Absolutely. Sure. Sure. I can see several possibilities there. You know? Take a cue from these guys in Stranger Things and maybe have the Ghostbusters in high school or something.
We have already seen how Stranger Things based on the supernatural sci-fi them has become a huge series on Netflix because it gladly embraces the nostalgia of the 1980s by adopting the music, fashion, visuals and pop culture of that time. The Stranger Things season 2 even showed the kids wear costumes of Ghostbusters, as a respectful homage to the 80s franchise. As per Aykryod, the Stranger Things genre can be used to more than maintain nostalgia about Ghostbusters, and it can revive the franchise too.
It sounds interesting to imagine a live-action Ghostbusters series on an enabling platform such as Netflix, but, what about the thought of featuring high-school age group versions of the leading Ghostbusters? If we consider the original troika of Ghostbusters who hadn’t met Winston Zeddemore till the first movie’s incidents, therefore, roping him in would mean major interference with the canon and the show also would require to be set in the 60s and not the 80s to match the age. Even if someone agrees to send the timeline for a toss, it is almost unimaginable to see Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler being in the same high school as the leading three. You could never imagine these three guys being school buddies who remained friends throughout college and professional lives, but, it is easier to think of them as intelligent people who met later and became friends.
Aykroyd has a reputation for having weird concepts about aliens, ghosts and how to bottle vodka, but, the original Ghostbusters concept was a stroke of brilliance from his mind. Apart from the brilliant concept, it was the execution which had made the original Ghostbusters film into a brilliant piece of entertainment. The high school concept of Ghostbusters would have been impressive. However, its execution calls for some extraordinary narrative and a brilliant cast. Pure nostalgia can’t resurrect Ghostbusters from the grave.
Source: CinemaBlend
