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Ghostbusters III: Hellbent is an unused script written by Dan Aykroyd and Tom Davis.[1]

It is not to be confused with the cancelled Ghostbusters III or Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

Development[]

Note: Approximately between 1992 to 2007, this version of Ghostbusters III was in development then in 2008, the Eisenber-Stupnitsky drafts began.

In early June 1989, during the press tour for Ghostbusters II, Dan Aykroyd was asked about the possibility of a third movie. He felt there was no limit to the possibilities but admitted the others felt differently.[2]

In January 1992, Columbia Pictures touched base with Ivan Reitman about another Ghostbusters movie after he abandoned plans to direct a biopic on the Marx Brothers.[3]

In the August 1993 issue of Playboy, there was an interview with Dan Aykroyd on the set of "Coneheads" and a third Ghostbusters movie came up. Aykroyd replied, "The one I don't think we'll necessarily further exploit is Ghostbusters. It looks like that's about had its run" but then hinted, "If I could get that team together, it would be a real dream, because I think there's a great story to be told. But it won't be for a while."[4]

Between February 7 to the 12, 1994, Dan Aykroyd appeared on WWOR Channel 9 News. When asked about doing another movie, he responded he had a story in mind he was thinking about but a factor was getting the others together again.[5]

In September 1996, Aykroyd's vigor was renewed in the wake of "Tommy Boy" and he started talking to Sony about the third movie, involving a story starring a team of new, younger Ghostbusters. He already had Chris Farley in mind. Harold Ramis was unsure about co-writing but pitched some ideas. Aykroyd recruited Tom Davis to help him with the next draft.[6][7] Ramis mentioned Aykroyd was writing a script with "a whole new, younger, and probably much more handsome team," and likened it to 'Ghostbusters: The Next Generation'.[8][9]

On June 16, 1999, during an interview, Ernie Hudson mentioned while on the set of "Airheads," Harold Ramis told him the studio wanted more movies to happen.[10]

On September 10, 1996, Aykroyd confirmed he finished the first draft, meeting with Sony, he spoke with Chris Farley about a part he is writing for him, and thinks Will Smith would make another great Ghostbuster.[11]

On September 15, 1996, Aykroyd stated he was working on the second draft, Ramis was in negotiations to reprise Egon, Murray and Weaver passed, and a role was being written for Chris Farley.[12]

On November 2, 1996, it was rumored Oscar, now an adult, would have a large role.[13]

On February 6, 1997, a story treatment by completed.

On April 15, 1997, it was reported Aykroyd and Ramis wrote an outline that included a new team. Aykroyd hinted he would love to see Chris Farley in it.[14]

On November 9, 1997, it was reported Aykroyd offered Murray a five minute walk in role but was refused so he started working on a draft without Peter.[15] The movie went into development but on December 18, 1997, Chris Farley passed away.[16]

On January 5, 1998, John Calley, then the head of Sony Pictures Entertainment, reportedly had a Ghostbusters sequel among his plans for the studio.[17][18]

On January 19, 1998, it was reported the cast demanded more than 40 percent of Sony's receipts but everyone except Bill Murray all backed down to a more reasonable price and he wanted a cut of the gross not to star in the movie.[19]

On February 10, 1998, Aykroyd commented he and Harold Ramis had a treatment but admitted Bill Murray and Ivan Reitman weren't interested.[20]

On March 28, 1998, it was rumored Will Smith was in talks to star in the movie.[21]

On April 14, 1998, it was reported the first draft was a "disaster," a new writer was brought in to work with Aykroyd and Ramis in late March, Murray was reconsidering, and it was unlikely Weaver would return.[22]

On July 9, 1998, it was reported the plot concerned Egon and Ray's attempts to continue the business after Peter leaves with Dana, and that the main villain might be Hades, the Greek god of the underworld.[17][23]

On August 14, 1998, it was reported Aykroyd and Ramis were working on a screenplay.[24]

On September 1, 1998, it was rumored George Fenton would score.[25]

On October 25, 1998, it was rumored Aykroyd spoke with Jason Alexander about a role as a Ghostbuster and he also has Jeff Daniels in mind.[26] Alexander later denied he was involved.[27]

On January 27, 1999, Ramis confirmed Aykroyd was writing a sequel, done two versions of it, but likened it more to a hobby. He speculated a new movie would have any original cast members "as mentors to a new, young cast."[28][citation needed]

On February 19, 1999, Ramis confirmed he talked to Aykroyd about it on a regular basis and the studio was interested but admitted Murray was very elusive and Reitman was "kind of standing on the side." He revealed the 'dream plan' was for him and Aykroyd to produce it while he would direct it and the story would be about the Ghostbusters recruiting a new team.[29]

On February 24, 1999, it was reported in a Chicago radio show the day before, Ramis said they wouldn't do it without Murray and Murray "said that he would only do the movie if his character was killed off in the first two minutes of the movie. That way he could play a ghost in the remainder of the movie."[30]

By February 1999, actors considered by Aykroyd and Ramis were Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Will Smith, Chris Rock, and Ben Stiller.[31]

On March 10, 1999, a full draft was completed.

On June 18, 1999, in Entertainment Weekly, Reitman revealed Aykroyd went to his house 3 weeks ago to talk about the movie and the idea would Ramis directing it and Reitman producing.[32]

On July 30, 1999, Reitman commented he would probably only produce the movie.[33]

On November 12, 1999, Aykroyd commented the chances of the movie seemed slim and attributed it to Sony trying to make too many "bargains" in the wake of "The Blair Witch Project" and Hellbent would have cost $120 million to make.[34][35][36]

On May 9, 2000, in Jam! section of the Calgary Sun, Reitman commented he couldn't solve script problems and was uncertain about making deals with Sony and the cast.[37]

In June 2001, the box office failure of "Evolution" stomped out any lingering enthusiasm Sony had for Ghostbusters III.[38]

On November 17, 2005, Ramis mentioned they had Chris Farley, Chris Rock, and Ben Stiller in mind to play three of the new Ghostbusters.[39]

On June 23, 2006, a limited revision was finished. There was talk of it being a CGI animated movie.[40]

On February 1, 2007, Aykroyd mentioned they were looking into making the story into a CG animated movie.[41]

Development continues into new scripts by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky starting in 2008 and later Etan Cohen in 2012 titled Ghostbusters: Alive Again. See Ghostbusters III for more.

On December 4, 2012, Aykroyd displayed interest in using the Manhellttan idea for a fifth or sixth Ghostbusters movie. [42]

On April 28, 2016, Aykroyd wrote in his "The Ghost Writer" piece in the June 2016 issue of Empire that he wanted Alec Baldwin to play the villain. [43]

Drafts[]

At least three drafts were done.[44]

  • Story Treatment; February 6, 1997
  • First Draft; March 10, 1999
  • Limited Revision; June 23, 2006

Plot[]

During the 1990s, Aykroyd wrote a script for a potential third film in the series. The concept reportedly would have the characters transported to an alternate version of Manhattan called Manhellton, where the people and places are hellish versions of their originals and they meet the Devil.

February 6, 1997 Treatment[]

The movie starts in a funeral home in Yonkers called Lunney-Gavin Funeral Parlor. A funeral has just ended in the afternoon. The corpse of Mrs. Flora Burke gets out of her coffin and walks into the office to bum a cigarette from a stunned attendant. She states she wants to go home. At dusk, the police process a crime scene that appears to be a gangland style hit. A body bag on a gurney stirs up then rolls away. Ecto-1a departs from the Firehouse and arrives at Lunney-Gavin at night. Out steps a new team. The new team, one of many teams in operation, consists of Ray's nephew Frank Stantz, Nicole, and Dwight. Frank is a problem employee. The team discovers the staff giving Coke and junk food to many reanimated corpses. The corpses act like children who don't want to go to bed and demand to go home. The attendant admits they probably have the legal right to go home. The team pulls up to a house in Yonkers. Frank speaks to a Rod Burke and informs him his grandmother has passed back in. Rod is confused and tells him she died three days ago. Flora steps out the Ecto smoking and holding a grocery bag and a six pack of beer. She asks Rod what's for dinner. The team stops next at the City Morgue. They enter the storage room and notice the employees are huddled in a corner. Voices can be heard coming out of all the storage drawers. Ray Stantz lectures about the Afterlife in World Culture in a second floor lecture hall at Columbia University. He talks about near death experiences and quotes his old professor, Dr. Richard Wyance that "the afterlife could be a nearworld, a parallel existence, a reality side-by-side but slightly out of phase with what we see, in photographic terms the negative strip to our positive pictures." Ray gets a call by Winston, who is at the Firehouse. It is revealed the Ghostbusters company has thrived since the events of the Vigo incident. Winston is a company executive surrounded by computers. A Buick Ectomobile leaves as a Packard Ectomobile enters. A team steps out of the Packard with smoking Traps. Winston tells Ray that Frank wants to see him and Egon and it is a matter of life and death. Egon is preoccupied in the Telekinesis Laboratory with a telekinesis research project. Subjects use their minds to move pinballs across a table, form letters out of smoke in vacuum bottles, snapping filaments in light bulbs, and illuminating light bulbs on a circuit board connected to a red, yellow, and green light. Ray enters the lab and Egon shows him a postcard from Peter who is in Indonesia staking out a claim on the world's biggest gold mine. Egon assumes Ray's visit pertains to Frank.

A burial is about to conclude at a huge graveyard near the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. A clump of dirt suddenly flies back at a mourner. Funeral parties watch Frank's team try to deal with coffins popping out of the ground like corks and shooting out like missiles. Corpses make their way to the road. Frank is hysterical. Egon and Ray step out a taxi cab. Egon shakes his head at the sight of Frank. The Ghostbusters retreat from the raining coffins. Frank zigzags around and narrowly avoids a coffin. Ray tries to be Frank's guide because he promised Frank's mother he would take care of him. Frank wanted to do field work because it excited him and didn't want a desk job. A swarm of corpses bears down on them. They all retreat back to Ecto. Winston calls them and informs them Wyance was asking for Egon and Ray. A surgery does not end well and a patient dies on the table in the operating room. The operating team disperses. As a nurse disassembles equipment, the patient reanimates and asks how much longer it's going to take. The Ghostbusters walk past the operating team talking about what just happened. They visit their mentor on his deathbed. Wyance is gracious they came and reveals he's interested in Egon's research. Wyance wants to communicate with them after his passing and tell them how his transition went. Frank freaks out and is ushered away. Wyance reveals he isolated the frequency of the human soul then demonstrates it on his equipment, parallel to a fainter line, and instructs them. Egon and Ray set up an array of colored lights. Wyance tests his ability to light them up. At dawn, Wyance has passed on. Ray, Egon, and Winston wait. Wyance heads through a blue iridescent tunnel and is beckoned to a golden glow at the end by smiling, warmly greeting spirits. They suddenly grab and beat Wyance with fists, boots, cudgels, and baseball bats. He tries to run for it but they drag him as the golden glow dissipates. At the hospital, the red bulb goes off furiously.

Back at the Firehouse, Egon, Ray, and Winston realize death is not working as it usually does due to a blockage preventing souls from crossing over into the afterlife and they have to cross over to the other side to fix it. They play a videotape left by Wyance and learn he discovered that life and death works like a radio frequency with "two separate oscillating lines" for each state: a soul force and the fainter parallel line demonstrated on his life frequency tuner. Wyance theorizes that like Heisenberg's theory about how two particles can exist in the same place at the same time, the afterlife exists alongside the life plane as a shadow at the same time. He likens life as a wave out of phase with the other waves, including the afterlife and that death is merely a flux or phase change for the soul. Wyance then reveals he was on the verge of completing construction of a "phase flux generator/shifter" that allows the user to adjust the frequencies and artificially switch between the positive or present world and the negative or afterlife. The device is secured in a warehouse in Brooklyn. Wyance instructs them on how to get to it and finish it. The warehouse is heavily locked and alarmed. Inside, the Ghostbusters find a large insulated chamber defined by panels, tripods, and various pieces of hardware as well as a rough prototype harness for the user to wear. They get to work on completing the shifter and making more harnesses. Frank has to be assured the shifter lets life forms go to the afterlife without having to die. Frank then inquires how they will get around in the afterlife, stumping the originals. They agree on using a car. Frank gets an old Packard Ectomobile out of the fleet and mod it with various additions. The shifter is activated. They vanish momentarily then reappear in the same place. The Ghostbusters think nothing has happened and depart to get something to eat.

There is a traffic jam of taxi cabs from different time periods on the Brooklyn Bridge. The Ghostbusters climb onto the roof of Ecto and observe cars spilling over into the East River. They see a column of German war vehicles from World War II. They find themselves in Hell and it resembles an alternate version of New York City. A Manhellton. The Ectomobile lifts off and hovers over the gridlock. The end of the bridge is adorned with a wrought iron sign that reads, "Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." They land at a ferry dock near the South Street Seaport. A boat packed with people reaches the shore then four foot tall demons shovel them off with pitchforks. They agree they are in Hell then logically decide the next course of action is to talk to someone in charge like the Mayor. Upon arriving at City Hall, they are immediately ticketed by a claw that emanates from the parking meter and a wheel clamp materializes on the front tire. A police officer tells them they won't be towed. A tow truck arrives and hauls Ecto away. Everyone claims to be the Mayor while political hacks claim they can get them to the real Mayor. An older grizzled man wearing turn of the century clothes with a bullet wound on the side of his head offers to help them gain an audience with the Mayor in exchange for alcohol. They are skeptical until he admits he is a professional liar, a lawyer. The Ghostbusters are arrested for trespassing and are arrested. The Ghostbusters are put in the vilest sub-sub-basement cells with really bad criminals. The lawyer promises to bail them out in exchange for alcohol. He fails to make proper arrangements and they are instead transferred to a permanent cell. They use their technology to escape. The police realize they are not the Bad Ghostbusters, the Hell version of them. They try to use their individual portable phase shifters but they fail.

The Ghostbusters are chased to Wall Street. The lawyer looks around in vain for a bar. They see a man towing an armored car with his teeth, a man shackled to a wheelbarrow full of gold, and a woman piled high with stocks and endlessly picking fallen ones off the ground. Ray and Egon think Wall Street is where the real power is and can find someone in charge. The lawyer claims he would have taken them there if they specified that's what they were after. He points them Uptown to a huge black chrome and glass multi-spiked spire with an antennae like horn. It dwarfs the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings. The owner and developer of Lucifer Towers is named Ron Lucifer. The Ghostbusters decide to split up into two teams and work their way up the various parts of Hell from the east and west then meet at the tower. The inhabitants of alternate Greenwich Village are have comically severe piercings and the alternate Washington Square Park is overrun with hell dogs.[45][46] Frank, Ray, and Winston end up on Eighth Avenue where sex bars and strip clubs are lined up. Frank is enticed. They end up in the El Coch on Gros restaurant. It is run by the Gluttonous who stuff food into them with wooden rams. A diner gets eaten by his meal. Egon, Nicole, and Dwight are on Fifth Avenue dealing with a flood of shoppers and consumerism. Both teams are pursued by the Bad Ghostbusters.

Ray and Frank head to the auto pound to get back Ecto. It is buried deep in rows of an eternal junkyard. One team is able to phase back to the life plane for more equipment. They rush down from Uptown to Midtown but are pulled over by a police officer. They try to explain the Devil lives in a tower at 59th and 5th. The officer responds skeptically with an "uh-huh." The two teams meet up at Lucifer Towers. In the elevator, there are 200 floors to choose from. They press the penthouse button and are whisked to the top. They meet the principal villain, Ron Lucifer. Lucifer is curious about how they got to Hell. Ray and Egon discusses their theory about the blockage and Lucifer confirms that his realm, which is just an island after all, is becoming overpopulated and thus, souls are being denied entry. During their meeting, Frank notices a "warm, white beautiful glow" in New Jersey, an area that Lucifer quickly states is not his territory. Lucifer develops a vested interest in the phase flux device and presses on about it because it can help him expand and branch out to areas previously denied to him. The Ghostbusters tell him the devices are unreliable and they need to do more research. He traps them in his office for a battle. There are no doors so they blast their way out. Security demons are summoned. The Towers shoot up a thousand stories as the fight commences.[47] They deal with an Escher-like stairway, endless office hallways with extreme visual perspectives, fire hoses that turn into snakes, and screen savers that turn into monstrous figures. Eventually, a communications room is discovered. Egon and Winston deduce they can unblock the path to the afterlife by evacuating as many souls as they can across the George Washington Bridge to Jersey. Frank is elected to talk since he is the most innocent. Frank gets on Hell's p.a. system and tells everyone in Hell the place sucks and there is a God who won't turn them away. The Ghostbusters are expelled from the communications room and make their way down seeing various levels of torture and temptation. The sub-sub-basement looks like the classic fiery Hell. They try to go back up but lose the elevator and are left hanging by the cables. They utilize a radical combination of their technology to escape.

The Ghostbusters lead souls over the George Washington Bridge to Heaven. A large demonic force blocks their path. The demons are defeated but they sever both ends of the bridge. As they all plummet towards a river of boiling blood, they save spared by divine intervention and make it to Heaven. The Manhellton souls change into angelic beings. Professor Wyance is among them. Frank wants to stay and sees an incredibly gorgeous angel figure opening her arms to embrace him. Just as Frank is about to embrace the angel, the Ghostbusters phase themselves back to their world. Frank finds himself hugging a "fat black female Jersey transit cop." Back at the Firehouse, they begin destroying the phase shifter technology. The movie ends in a hospital maternity ward where an African-American couple is celebrating the birth of their baby. The newborn has the exact same distinctive soft gray eyes as the late Professor Wyance.[48]

Hellbent Scripts[]

The opening shot moves into and below the grave of a philanthropic financier named John J. Desseter. The sound of gears and old rusted iron plates are heard. A door opens and a pair of demonic hands shoves Desseter into the black void. Part phantom, part corpse and three times the size he was in life, Desseter bursts of his coffin in the Trinity Church Graveyard. He scares homeless men and floats through a fence. Officer Disenza calls dispatch and asks to be connected to the Ghostbusters. Desseter attacks a Corebank Financial tower across the street that was once a building he dedicated to the arts. Another corpse, that of Ulysses S. Grant, leaves his tomb in New Jersey. Grant causes a ruckus in Madison Avenue's Eclaires Bar Restaurant upon realizing it is not The Old Lamplighters Tavern and just wants whiskey.[49] A rap song starts off. A team of Ghostbusters (a muscular Jersey punkster named Franky, an uptight former gymnast named Moira, a Hispanic college graduate named Carla and a handsome FUBU devotee named Lovell) arrives at an abandoned bridge tower near the Hudson Highway in Ecto-12, a 1989 converted Cadillac. The crew chief tells them he has a span to repair but there's a dead guy. They capture Desseter using '90s versions of the Ghostbusters equipment but in a precarious position, Franky has to abandon his Proton Pack and the Trap holding Desseter. They both fall into the East River below. The Ecto-19, a converted mid-eighties Buick, pulls up. They are scolded by their supervisor, a ten year old genius named Dr. Nat Colby. It is revealed Ghostbusters is now based in a former city sanitation garage and there are 30 Ectomobiles. The fleet ranges from 1940 Packards to mid-80s Cadillacs and Bucks. Dr. Winston Zeddemore waits for the team then takes them into the office area. Louis Tully is seated at five parallel sets of computers, sorting printouts, and shredding documents. He tells Winston he thinks he figured out how to forestall insolvency through the next quarter and avoid Ch. 11 filing before fiscal closing in December just so long as Egon and Ray don't burn through operating capital on research.[50]

Janine Melnitz bars Winston and the team's path to the research and development laboratory. She states no one is allowed inside until they are done. Winston points out it's been three days. Meanwhile, in the lab, Egon and Ray note their clothes are in bad shape and they to change their suits soon. Egon wants to finish the test sequence. He sets the anti-quark ignition cradle. They prepare the glueball but Ray makes a mistake and it is prematurely fired. It burns a sub-atomic path through part of the city. Janine informs Egon and Ray that their mentor Father Trenodius is on his death bed at New York Hospital. They question if he really is this time. Janine relays Trenodius said he is. The crew chief from the tower brings Franky's pack and Trap. However the containment grid is full and Colby tells Moira and Carla to do a transfer. They leave in Ecto-50, a large surplus, city maxi-sized crew cab five ton box truck, covered in a fine black and gray hi-tech eave which blips green and white at various points. Franky is about to walk to his 1988 Mercury Marquis but he and Lovell decide to help Moira and Carla. They arrive at the GB Jersey Storage Facility off the Pulaski Skyway. The signs on the perimeter notes it is EPA approved, has a Class XC permit, there is a very high voltage anti-personnel fence, and Akita attack dogs.

Egon and Ray are met by Cardinal Steppino at the hospital and he is clearly not a fan of science. Ray notes the so-called ravings of Trenodius made him the greatest professor of theo-physics.[51] Egon added he was the only one. Steppino stipulates the Church won't sanction their experiment. Trenodius orders everyone except Egon and Ray out of his room. They start the psi-transference test. Egon notes into his recorder it is 3:05 am and the date is October 15. Trenodius manages to illuminate the red and green bulbs attached to a light board. He claims the greatest discovery of all are the afterworlds and admits he does not envy those he leaves behind because they are approaching the Dawn of the Age of Kali Yuga when evil bursts free of its confines. Trenodius' soul is welcomed through a blue tunnel but the warm inviting spirits present turn out to be a cluster of sub-demons. They beat him and take him away. The two bulbs shatter and Trenodius falls into a coma. Back at the Jersey Storage Facility, the transfer is completed. However, Franky fails to lock the clipping on a shunt. After they leave, ghosts escape.

The next morning, all teams of Ghostbusters are assembled for a Code Purple situation. Egon and Ray also share their belief those who die and cross into an afterlife plane are being refused entry which in turn will send a massive energy flow to them, leading to an increase in paranormal disturbances and activity. It is soon clear that the dead are returning and trying to continue with their lives. Winston declares superanimated dead people are rising in all five Boroughs. Dr. Colby takes a call from Marta Desseter, "the third richest woman in the history of the universe" and a descendant of the Desseter ghost. They meet with her in her office. She is upset with the ghosts wrecking her tower and wants to know how they plan on ending the current crisis. Egon explains they will gain access to the afterworld through alteration of the planar frequency around the Five Boroughs by a gluon phase reversal which enables them to vibrate across the field dividing their world from a parallel reality. She deduces they would need money to do that. They start listing off what they would need to build like a Heisenberg-Feynmann loop provider, new generation equipment, Muon Pots, Particle Greaves, and Planar Frequency Attenuators. Egon estimated it will all cost $9 billion if she wants it done by next week. Marta takes one look at J.J. Desseter's ghost sitting on her bathroom toilet and agrees to the amount.

Every one of the 500 employees total except Franky and Lovell agree to volunteer to help with Project Styx. One week later, a convoy of Ectomobiles heads across the Brooklyn Bridge into a Brooklyn warehouse. Meanwhile, Dr. Colby takes the ferry to Governor's Island at 5:50 in the afternoon to deal with a haunting at the abandoned officer's mansion. He encounters a gray lady phantom who is upset about being a soldier's mistress. He gets slimed but manages to trap her only to be attacked by President Grant's ghost. He is suddenly flash frozen. Carla and Moira are present and reveal they volunteered to test out the next generation equipment, namely the Particle Greaves. Winston informs Franky and Lovell they are being fired so they quickly change their minds and volunteer for Project Styx. Moira, Carla, Franky, and Lovell are instructed to go on a reconnaissance mission to the other side, figure out who is in charge, and report back to them.

In Hell, the team makes their way to the alternate version of Foley Square which is named Holy Square. The police officers look like giant Minotaurs with translucent blue skin. They soon realize the Ghostbusters are alive and arrest them. The Ghostbusters encounter a shady lawyer named Michael Taghanik who is six feet tall, wears an orange suit, wears a bad orange-brown wig over a heavily leathered sun/jerkied and olive mottled head, and wears Jim Jones shades.[52] The Ghostbusters are put in jail. They are confused because the jail is a night club called Club Guilty. It is apparent it is a literal disco inferno and criminals are tortured by the same beat playing over and over. Taghanik pleads diplomatic immunity and gets the Ghostbusters released. He takes them back to his meager office and a deal is struck, his help for whiskey. Taghanik takes them to the Mayor of Manhellton but the team figures out all he does is drone on and on. Taghanik deduces they want to meet someone who gets things done and suggests Luke Siffler. He now wants parts to build a distillery for his help.

Marta Desseter arrives at the Brooklyn warehouse and notes $3 billion has been spent already. Back in Manhellton, the team arrives in the Wall Street area and see bankers manacled to heavy loads of gold, stock certificates, and jewels. Taghanik sees the flag is not flying and informs them Siffler isn't around so they have to head Midtown to his home. They take the Charon Taxi Service, an orange and black 70 foot cigarette boat. It struggles at 20 knots on the thick meaty river. Living arms grasp out while skulls bob around. At the Brooklyn warehouse, mechanics get to work on a beaten up 1937 Packard combination hearse and flower car. In Manhellton, the team arrives at Diabolax Spire at 666 Central Mines South. The elevator has no buttons but a door slides open behind them to Siffler's office. Siffler rewards Taghanik with a bottle of Johnny Walker Red. Siffler admits to being the one dumping souls into the living world. Franky asks about the brightest spot beyond the furthest bridge but Siffler does not like to discuss it. He inquires about how they crossed over the particulate field and admits he has similar research underway but not as advanced as theirs. A fight breaks out between five bodyguards, huge classic red devils in business suits touting gold and black machine pistols. Siffler wants to alleviate the traffic and population problem by dispatching non-essential residents to Manhattan. He believes the Ghostbusters' equipment will help expedite and expand on his plan. The Ghostbusters are soon disarmed. Siffler's demon form is that of a red and green devil with yellow eyes and teeth and horns larger than the other demons. Carla manages to escape back to Manhattan while the others are taken to the sulfur mines.

Siffler tries their equipment and arrives in the warehouse. Siffler gets sent back but comes back a few times but he is eventually worn out from the back and forth. During the skirmishes, Marta Desseter is covered in plasm. With the Loop Provider burnt out, a new elliptical loop is constructed. It looks like a 19 foot long, five foot wide inverted black sail married to the roof of the re-fitted Packard. Muon reservoirs and remote throwers are underslung where the wheels and fenders were. Desseter wants to go on the Cartesia Ellipse Interceptor but Egon refuses her. Ray and Winston cross over in the Ellipse and close in on the implants in the Ghostbusters. Under attack by hell hornets, Ray and Winston are in a bind. Dr. Colby reveals his presence and mans the throwers. They are still overwhelmed and retreat to New Jersey. To their surprise, a golf course manifests. A golf ball lands near a cup and a figure approaches in a white golf cart. The figure is God who assumes the guise of Peter Venkman to tell Ray that the real Peter forgives him for the lab accident that took his life. They tell God about Siffler's plan to use their world as a dumping ground. Referring to Siffler as an "old associate," God decides to keep the bridge open for one hour and instructs the Ghostbusters to bring everyone they can and those will be forgiven, redeemed and accepted into Heaven.[53] Franky ask God for an autograph but he turned down as God stopped giving them after Moses.[54] In the final battle, the Ellipse assaults Siffler's office. The bodyguards are flash plasmed but Siffler escapes. Franky and Lovell focus on blasting the hornet hole with plasm. Ray and Moira chase Siffler up a spiral stair chamber to a communications command room in the roof cap. Siffler sends out a message for all residents and personnel to come to Diabolax Square to take down the Ghostbusters. They tell him about the one hour grace period but he is concerned everyone will just leave Manhellton. He is about to transmutate but is slung with a double course of plasm. Ray gets on the microphone and tells everyone about God's offer. Many residents head to the bridge. Luke Siffler bursts out of the plasm in full demonic form, grabs Ray by the throat, and climbs up his building. Moira and Winston focus on saving Ray. A bright beam of golden light hits Siffler who drops Ray. Ray is recovered aboard the Ellipse. Siffler tries to breach it. The Particle Greaves run out. Colby shakes Siffler off and he plummets into the mines. After being defeated, Siffler goes on a weird rant vowing about how the passage of time is different to him and he will wait for them to return to Hell the old fashioned way.[55][56]

Back in Manhattan, Egon shrugs off Ray's claims about Peter and tranquilizes him. Desseter, Grant, and all other corpses return to their graves. Trenodius flatlines and dies but there is a near beatific smile on his face. In the afterlife, Trenodius is welcomed by the spirits of his friends, parents, priests, and Peter. Ray, Egon, Winston, Franky, Lovell, Moira, Carla, and Colby finds themselves in the middle of a traffic jam but they find it beautiful. A woman is mugged and she chases after the thief while screaming for the police.[57][58]

June 23, 2006 Limited Revision[]

Moira is specifically noted to be Italian-Jewish. Peter is revealed to have died from slipping during an industrial accident involving the making of a love potion and Ray blamed himself for it. A plaque reveals he died in 1998.[59] Siffler's rant at the end is removed.

Assorted Quotes and Sources[]

Dan Aykroyd, as quoted by Hollywood Online on February 10, 1998:

"The concept is that there's a positive image of life and there's a negative image of life. Hell is not some distant place, far away from this dimension or realm. Hell is right next door. It's like those old tintype photos where you turn them one way and they look positive, then you just flick them slightly and they look negative. That's our concept. Given the right technology you could flip the switch and all of a sudden the positive that we see in this room suddenly becomes negative. It's kind of neat."
"We're going to set it in New York and do a Hades version of New York, very close to life in the city as we perceive it now. You look down at the river and there's a ferry of Wall Street commuters, except they're being shoved off with pitchforks into the river which is now boiling blood. Flick it back and it's just the Brooklyn Bridge and just a normal traffic jam."
1989 converted Cadillac, Ecto-12[60]

Taken from Daily Sci-Fi "Movies: Bustin' Out" March 4, 1999

"It's the early 21st century, and they're retired. Hell gets filled up, and all other damned souls begin to roam the earth, unleashing a poltergeist plague. So, they come out of retirement...passing the torch to some younger, slimmer guys."[61]

Review comments from ProtonCharging.com:

"After all these years, Aykroyd has made Ghostbusters a full blown corporation, with dozens of employees, including mechanics to look after the fleet of converted ambulances; one scene echoes the shot of the Ecto-1 driving across the Brooklyn Bridge, only this time there's a whole line. They've also built themselves the Ecto-50, a converted truck with (if I understand correctly) its own Containment Unit. Winston is in fact a doctor, but it doesn't feel quite right, as if the normal guy we identified with was now indistinguishable from the rest of the team - having him working on his degrees would have been cool, while still keeping him a tad more down to earth than Egon and Ray. Venkman is noticeably absent for most of the movie, a concession I'm assuming to the fact that Murray didn't want to do another GB installment." [62]

Taken from MovieChronicles.com:

“We go to the hell side of Manhattan, downtown, Foley Square. It’s all where the cops are–they are all blue minotaurs. Central Park is this huge peat mine with green demons there, surrounded by black onyx thousand-foot high apartment buildings with classic red devils, very wealthy. We go and visit a Donald Trump-like character who is Mr. Sifler. Luke Sifler. Lu-cifer. So we meet the devil inside” [63]

Taken from IGN FilmForce July 30, 2002:

"Bill Murray/Peter Venkman doesn't appear until the end and then it's only a cameo (he's portrayed in a way you've never seen before, which was the script's most memorable gag). There's also no sign of Sigourney Weaver's character Dana nor is there any mention of her kid Oscar (remember him?), who you'd think might be included among these new, younger GBs given his importance in the last film."
"Ray (Aykroyd), Egon (Ramis), and Winston (Ernie Hudson, now referred to as "Dr. Zeddemore") have prominent supporting roles here. (Louis Tully and Janine have cameos.)"[64]

Taken from In Focus November 2005

"So all the Ghostbusters would need to do [to go to Hell] is take themselves "out of phase" one beat. And we create a device to do it, and it's in a warehouse in Brooklyn. And when we step out of the chamber, it looks just like New York -- but it's Hell. Everything's gridlocked -- no cars are moving, no vehicles are moving, and all the drivers are swearing at each other in different foreign languages. No two people speak the same language. It's all the worst things about modern urban life, just magnified."
"And Heaven was across the George Washington Bridge in New Jersey -- which was irony. The Ghostbusters had to make this journey from lower Manhattan to the George Washington Bridge."
"There was a good structure -- because some of us were in Hell, while some of us were in the real world, tracking our journey through Hell. We had new Ghostbusters and old Ghostbusters."[65]

Taken from CISN Country 103.9 with Dan Aykroyd February 1, 2007

"And if you can basically, build a phase - an interdimensional phase system, so that you can go from one dimension to another, we've succeeded in doing that, and we go to the Hell side of Manhattan."[66]

Cast[]

Script Writer[]

Characters[]

New Ghostbusters in 1997 Treatment[]

  • Frank Stantz, nephew of founding Ghostbuster Ray Stantz[45]
    • Role made for Chris Farley
    • A big cute-looking blonde man in his early thirties" who is "very nervous and physically ungainly. (He is) tense and ill-suited to the work."
  • Nicole[45]
    • A "very tough no-nonsense ex-Airborne type."
  • Dwight[45]
    • A "blinking, mouth-breathing brainy kid."

New Ghostbusters in Script Drafts[]

  • Franky
    • A body-pierced, tough New Jersey punker[67]
    • Franky is a Ghostbuster because he is interested in the answers to the nature of life and death.[68]
  • Lovell
    • A dread-locked dude.[67]
    • Got straight As at the Bronx School of Science.[69]
    • Lovell is a dog person.[70]
  • Moira
    • A pretty but uptight gymnast and science grad.[67]
    • Moira thinks being a Ghostbuster is the greatest job in the world.[71]
    • She is a cat person.[72]
  • Carla
    • A Latino beauty.[67]
    • Carla is a Ghostbuster because she wants to make enough to go to flight school in Florida.[73]
  • Dr. Nat Colby
    • A prepubescent 10 year old genius whose powerful brain has made his head abnormally large. Despite his youth, Nat serves as a supervisor for the new team.[67][74][75]

Returning Cast[]

New Characters[]

  • Father Trenodius[67]
    • Trenodius was the Chief Administrator of the Vatican Investigative Group. He was the leading authority on exorcism, handled the worst possession cases, cast out many demons and verified miracles.[81][82][83]
    • He is 86 years old when he passes on.[84]
    • Previously, the character was named Professor Richard Wyance in the 1997 story treatment. He was a mentor of Ray and Egon described as a charismatic man with beautiful soft gray eyes.[46]
  • Cardinal Steppino
    • A fifty-ish no nonsense, six foot, Italian New Yorker described as a mafiosi in scarlet sashes, black beads, and a Cross.[85]
  • Marta Desseter
    • Marta is the third richest woman in "history of the universe" according to Ray.[86]
    • Marta is in her early 60s but is still really attractive.[87]
    • Bankrolls the phase oscillation device and a very rich descendant of J.J. Desseter. Described as looking like Lauren Bacall.[88]

Entities[]

  • Flora Burke
    • A reanimated corpse in Yonkers who loves to smoke.
  • The Bad Ghostbusters
    • Hell's counterparts of the Ghostbusters that only appear in the February 1997 treatment.
  • John J. Desseter
    • Desseter was born in 1858 and died at age 90 in 1938.[89][90] He was a noted financier and philanthropist who founded Core Coke.[91]
    • In the full drafts, Dessetter's nature is changed to a "part phantom, part corpse" entity that can pass through objects like a ghost.[92] He is also classified as a Class 4 full fixed repeater and a FRV (Free-repeating vapor).[93][94][95]
  • Ulysses S. Grant
    • Ghost of the famous general and U.S. President. He searches in vain for whiskey. Grant later attacks Dr. Nat Colby in an abandoned officer's mansion on Governor's Island but becomes the unwitting test subject for new gear called Particle Greaves and is flash-plasmed. After the ordeal in Manhellton is resolved, the ghost returns to his tomb.
  • Mayor of Manhellton
  • Michael Taghanik[96]
    • In the February 1997 treatment, he was described as a grizzled old guy in turn of the century clothing with rheumy alcoholic eyes and a gaping bullet wound in the side of his head.[97]
  • Minotaur Police
  • Luke Siffler[63][98]
    • Siffler is the Chairman, Treasurer and Controller of the Reserve Bank of Manhellton and a real estate developer.[99][100]
    • He resides in the Diabolax Spire at 666 Central Mines South.[101]
    • Siffler's plan is to ease Manhellton's population and traffic problems by dumping "non-essential residents" back to Manhattan by stealing the Ghostbusters planar shifting technology.[102]
    • Previously known as Ron Lucifer in the 1997 story treatment described as an attractive, well-spoken, smooth corporate type but a reasonable guy.[47]
    • Alec Baldwin was envisioned for the role.[43]
  • Giant Hornets
    • A swarm of 3 by 5 foot, 20 pound hornets protects Diabolax Spire.[103]
  • God
    • Assumes the form of a golfing Peter Venkman when He speaks with the Ghostbusters.

Comic Book Pitch[]

In the 2010s, Tristan Jones pitched a comic book adaptation to IDW Publishing several times but it was not greenlit.[104][105] IDW discussed the pitch with Sony but several factors like the passing of Harold Ramis and Sony and Ghost Corps' new priorities sidelined it.[106]

See Also[]

Trivia[]

  • The manifestation involving a cemetery where gravestones took off like rockets originated during early development of Ghostbusters II. It was one of many ideas that were ultimately scrapped in favor of the Titanic.[107] The visual was later used in Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Realistic Versions) in the Central Park Cemetery Level.
  • In the Crew and Filmmakers section of special features in the 1998 Collector's Edition DVD of The Blues Brothers, Dan Aykroyd's filmography section lists Ghostbusters III as a 1998 release.
  • On the Regular Cover of Ghostbusters International #11, there are several references to Hellbent:
    • In the bottom right, Luke Sifler is referenced.
    • In the bottom center, Manhellton is referenced.
    • The hellish landscape is an homage to the concept outlined in the Hellbent script.

External Links[]

February 1997 Treatment and June 2006 Draft External Links[]

March 1999 Draft External Links[]

References[]

  1. Esquire Dan Aykroyd Interview 12/4/12
  2. Spook Central "Entertainment Tonight Ghostbusters II Press Conference" circa 6/1989 Dan Aykroyd says: "You got the limits of the universe, inner and outer, man. You can do all kinds of things. I sound like Dennis Hopper. That's what it provides. With the hardware we got, the characters we have, there's no limit, there's no end to it. That's the way I feel. Some of the boys feel differently."
  3. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 151. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "Shortly after Reitman gave up on that project, in January 1992, Columbia Pictures touched base about another Ghostbusters."
  4. Sheff, David (August 1993). Playboy, p. 54. Playboy Enterprises, Beverly Hills, CA USA. Dan Aykroyd says: "If I could get that team together, it would be a real dream, because I think there's a great story to be told. But it won't be for a while."
  5. Spook Central recording of WWOR Channel 9 News February 1994 Dan Aykroyd says: "Ah, it might happen. I've got a story in mind that I'm thinking about. So, we'll see, we'll see. It's certainly something I always wanted to do. It's just getting the other players together."
  6. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 155. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "Ramis was uncertain about even trying to cowrite a Ghostbusters III, though he did pitch a few ideas for the story. Aykroyd turned to Tom Davis, another longtime collaborator, to help flesh out this new paranormal adventure. Aykroyd's chief concept: send the Ghostbusters to Hell, literally, and have them square off against the Devil."
  7. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 155. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "Aykroyd had a change of heart about retiring in 1996. In public, fans were starting to recognize him mostly from his supporting role in the recent Chris Farley comedy Tommy Boy, which prompted Aykroyd to try to launch a comeback. The book projects were put aside, the Blues Brothers sequel moved forward, and the comedian started discussing a Ghostbusters III script with Sony Pictures that September. The story involved new, younger Ghostbusters and Aykroyd had casting choices. Namely, his Tommy Boy costar Farley (who was also a linchpin of early '90s Saturday Night Live) and sitcom- star-turned-action-hero Will Smith."
  8. Vulture "A Roundup of Every Ghostbusters 3 Rumor From the Past 25 Years" 8/7/14 of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel "Busters May Be Back" circa 1996
  9. Ghostbusters Homepage archive of Milwaukee Journal Sentinal "Busters May Be Back! Harold Ramis says: "Dan Aykroyd would love to do one. He has approached all of us about it. Dan's even writing a script that has the old Ghostbusters training a whole new younger, and probably much more handsome team. I sort of think of it as 'Ghostbusters - The Next Generation."
  10. Yahoo! Chat/Big Star via Proton Charging "Ernie Hudson Big Star chat transcript" 6/16/1999 Ernie Hurdson says: "It was a big franchise and it's hard to believe the studios won't try to take advantage of it. But, as far as I know, nothing definite has happened and I haven't been approached yet. I worked with Harold Ramis on "Airheads" and he talked about the studios wanting it to happen."
  11. Ghostbusters Homepage archive of Vancouver Province Showcase 9/10/96 Dan Aykroyd says: "I've completed one draft of the script, and Sony definitly wants to make the movie, and so do I. I would want to do it with Harold (Ramis). We have been discussing it and are going back into meetings now. They (Ivan Reitman and Bill Murray) want to concentrate on other things. I can definitly see Chris Farley stepping into the cast, he'd make a great ghostbuster,and so would Will Smith. I've already talked to Chris about the casting and have told him I'll be drafting the part for him."
  12. Corona Productions Online 9/15/96
  13. Corona Productions Online 11/2/1996
  14. Ghostbusters Homepage archive of USA Today 4/15/97
  15. Ghostbusters Homepage archive of The Sunday Mirror 11/9/97
  16. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 160. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "This iteration of Ghostbusters III was rumored to be in development in November 1997, sharing gossip column space with Men in Black II, a fifth Batman movie, a Superman reboot, and a big-screen version of The A-Team starring Mel Gibson. Whatever excitement there was over Chris Farley potentially slipping into a Ghostbusters uniform came crashing down a month later when the comedian was found dead from an accidental overdose in his Chicago apartment."
  17. 17.0 17.1 Vulture "A Roundup of Every Ghostbusters 3 Rumor From the Past 25 Years" 8/7/14 of TIME Magazine circa 1998
  18. Time Magazine 1/5/98 Line reads: "His plans also include another Ghostbusters installment and movie versions of such TV shows as I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched."
  19. Ghostbusters Homepage archive of Newsweek Magazine 1/19/98
  20. Hollywood Online "Dan Aykroyd Turns From "Blues Brothers" to "Ghostbusters"" 2/10/98 Dan Aykroyd says: "We got a treatment. Harold and I have a treatment that we really like, and it's just a matter of writing it now. We're, probably, gonna try to do that this Summer. Billy doesn't want to do it, and neither does Ivan Reitman, but the concept is still strong and I think Harold and I can pull it off if we have the time."
  21. Ghostbusters Homepage archive of MJI's Big Picture 3/28/98
  22. Corona Productions Online 4/14/98 Line reads: "We've been told by our source that Aykroyd's first draft of Ghostbusters 3 (set in a Hellish NYC) was a "total disaster." In late March an unnamed screenwriter was brought in to work with Ackroyd and Ramis to make the script work. Bill Murray may re-consider starring in the flick depending on the script's quality, but it's unlikely Weaver will reprise her character...unless they offer her a lot of money."
  23. Cinescape 7/9/98 Line reads: "The film is rumored to follow Raymond Stantz (Aykroyd) and Egon Spengler (Ramis) as they cope with Peter Venkman's (Bill Murray) departure with Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver), plus their attempt to stay employed while fighting a new otherworldly entity, possibly Hades, the Greek god of the underworld."
  24. Spook Central Facebook recording of Sci-Fi Channel's "Sci-Fi Entertainment" 8/14/98
  25. Corona Productions Online 9/1/98 Line reads: "Our scooper learned from composer George Fenton that "he's taken a handshake agreement to score the project." Whether that means things are moving along or not remains to be seen."
  26. Corona Productions Online 10/25/98 Line reads: "Some interesting casting rumors: "Recently news I have overheard is that Dan Aykroyd spoke with former 'Seinfeld' star Jason Alexander, and he asked Jason to maybe consider playing a role AS a ghostbuster in this upcoming film sequel. Dan also mentioned that he is thinking about having Jeff Daniels and a peewee ghostbuster Will Smith step into the cast lineup."
  27. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 161. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "Another rumor, verbatim: "Aykroyd spoke with former 'Seinfeld' star Jason Alexander and he asked Jason to maybe consider playing a role as a ghostbuster" ("This is not true," Alexander confirmed for this volume through his publicist)."
  28. Spook Central Archived Ghostbusters III - Cinescape "Ramis Debunks 'GB3' Rumors" 1/27/99
  29. Entertainment Weekly "Who You Gonna Cast?" 2/19/99 Harold Ramis says: "Dan (Akroyd) and I talk about it on a regular basis, and he's done some writing. The studio would love to make a deal, but they're not sure who to make the deal with, since Bill (Murray) is very elusive, and (original director) Ivan Reitman is kind of standing on the side. The dream plan is that Danny and I would produce it, I would direct it, and we would recruit some newer, younger, popular Ghostbusters to star."
  30. Corona Productions Online 2/24/99 Line reads: "Yesterday morning Harold Ramis was interviewed on a local radio morning show in Chicago. When asked if he would ever do another Ghostbusters he said that Aykroyd and him would only do it if Bill Murray was involved. He said that they have apporoched Murray and he said that he would only do the movie if his character was killed off in the first two minutes of the movie. That way he could play a ghost in the remainder of the movie. Harold Ramis pretty much left it at that, not saying whether or not he would consider working that into a script."
  31. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 162. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "Asked if he had any actors in mind, Ramis said, "Yeah, Leonardo (DiCaprio). We'll have Leonardo and Ben Affleck. Matt Damon would also be good. Maybe Will Smith is free. He did so well with those aliens." In other interviews, Ramis said he also considered Chris Rock and Ben Stiller. Aykroyd mentioned he had Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Will Smith, Chris Rock, and Ben Stiller for roles."
  32. Corona Productions Online 6/18/99 Line reads: "He said 'Dan Aykroyd came to his house three weeks ago to talk about the idea.' Harold Ramis wants to direct and Ivan would produce. They haven't really figured things out, but it sounds like a definite possibility..."
  33. Sony Ghostbusters.com Interview 7/30/99 Ivan Reitman says: "We have talked about doing "Ghostbusters 3", but nothing is set. If we were to go ahead with the project, I would probably produce the film, not direct it."
  34. Spook Central Facebook recording of Access Hollywood 11/12/99 Dan Aykroyd says: "Because they're trying to get bargains, they're trying to get the next Blair Witch. But, you know, sometimes you have to seed for the big harvest to come in."
  35. Corona Productions Online 11/12/99 Dan Aykroyd says: "It doesn't look like it's going to happen for the same reason they aren't going to make Men In Black 2. The above the line cost is way too much for the studio to see it to be economically feasible. It's a shame too because everyone wants to do it. Even Bill Murray said he would work a few days on it. I did finish a script. Harold Ramis liked parts of it. Ivan Reitman liked parts of it too. There's definitely an interest from all of the original parties invovled to make it. But the studio just doesn't want to take the risk. My personal opinion is when you look at the success of the other two..well, there would be plenty of money to go around for everyone. So unfortunately, it looks like its just not going to happen based on the studio's feelings, not from anyone else."
  36. Proton Charging "Aykroyd Interview Sez GB3 In Jeopardy" 11/12/1999 Article reads: "That a sequel would cost an estimated $120 Million US to produce. That Sony turned cold on the idea of a sequel in the wake of the indie hit The Blair Witch Project."
  37. Corona Productions Online 5/9/00 Ivan Reitman says: "There will be no Ghostbusters 3. There's an audience for one, but I can't solve all the script problems. I'm also not certain I could make the deals with the stars and the studio...I read those stories...but people should remember that Bill marches to his own drummer and he changes his tune an awful lot."
  38. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 169. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "Ghostbusters producer Michael Gross revealed many years later that Evolution's flopping stamped out whatever enthusiasm Sony had for an actual Ghostbusters III."
  39. Ain't It Cool News 11/17/2005 Harold Ramis says: " And this was so long ago, we were thinking Chris Rock, Chris Farley and Ben Stiller taking over. That would have worked."
  40. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 165. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "Aykroyd and Tom Davis dusted off Hellbent in the summer of 2006 for a "limited revision." There were talks with Columbia Pictures around that time about reviving the script as a computer-animated feature."
  41. CISN Country 103.9 with Dan Aykroyd 2/1/07 Dan Aykroyd says: " Now it won't happen as a live action 'cause Billy will not come onto the live stage anymore for it, but he will voice his part, and we're looking to do it as a CGI animated project."
  42. Esquire Dan Aykroyd Interview 12/4/12
  43. 43.0 43.1 Aykroyd, Dan (2016). Empire Magazine, p. 69. Bauer Media Group, Harborough, Leicester, United Kingdom, ISBN 1234567890. Dan Aykroyd writes: "The villain was based on Donald Trump. I wanted Alec Baldwin to play him, the devil in a thousand-foot tall black onyx tower overlooking the hell-pit mine of Central Park."
  44. New York Times "New Video Game? Who You Gonna Call?" 5/28/2009 Article reads: "Mr. Aykroyd was immediately eager to start on a third film, but his first three drafts of a screenplay failed to excite either Mr. Reitman or Mr. Ramis, not to mention the elusive Mr. Murray. From that point the series basically languished for 15 years."
  45. 45.0 45.1 45.2 45.3 Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 158-159. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "A story treatment dated February 6, 1997, outlined with detail an unholy adventure for the paranormal eliminators. It opens at a funeral home in Yonkers, where the corpse of Mrs. Flora Burke gets out of her coffin and walks into the office to bum a cigarette from a stunned attendant. The Ectomobile arrives on the scene and three new Ghostbusters get out. Frank Stantz, nephew of founding Ghostbuster Ray Stantz, is the role that was obviously meant for Chris Farley: "a big cute-looking blonde man in his early thirties" who is "very nervous and physically ungainly. (He is) tense and ill-suited to the work." With Frank are Nicole, a "very tough no-nonsense ex-Airborne type," and a "blinking, mouth-breathing brainy kid" named Dwight. They enter the funeral home to discover the staff giving snacks to various restless corpses."
  46. 46.0 46.1 Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 159. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "Frank Stantz and his crew are one of several new teams in this treatment, as the Ghostbusting business has thrived in the years since Ghostbusters II. Winston Zeddemore is introduced as a company executive with his own fancy office. Egon Spengler is busy conducting telekinesis experiments in which people try to move pinballs and smoke with their minds. Ray Stantz is still active as well and tries to guide his nephew, who is a "problem employee." Peter Venkman is absent; a postcard reveals that he's in Indonesia mining gold. The Ghostbusters determine that death isn't taking for so many people because there's a blockage preventing souls from crossing over. Ray and Egon witness this firsthand when they visit the deathbed of their mentor Professor Wyance, "a charismatic man with beautiful soft gray eyes." Wyance discovered that life and death work like radio frequency with "two separate oscillating lines" for each state. One can move between these realms with a device called a "phase flux generator/shifter" that Wyance was working on before he died. Using this machine, the Ghostbusters must visit the afterlife and solve the blockage problem (the notion of Hell existing concurrent to reality was thought up by Harold Ramis).The Ghostbusters assume they'll need a car to get around in the afterlife, so they rig up one of the Ectomobiles to Wyance's phase flux invention in a Brooklyn warehouse."
  47. 47.0 47.1 Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 160. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "Their journey to Lucifer Towers takes them through other exaggerated versions of famous New York locales, like a Greenwich Village where everyone has comically severe piercings and a Washington Square Park overrun with hell dogs. Ron Lucifer is likened to Alec Baldwin and described as "attractive...well-spoken, smooth, corporate type, reasonable guy." Lucifer confirms that his realm is becoming overpopulated and that's why "souls are being denied entry." During their meeting, Frank notices a "warm, white beautiful glow" in New Jersey, an area that is out of Ron Lucifer's jurisdiction. Lucifer, who has a vested interest in the Ghostbusters' phase flux device, traps them in his office for a battle ("the building shoots up a thousand stories" as the fight commences)."
  48. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 160. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "The Ghostbusters lead many souls over the bridge, and as they are admitted their grotesque figures transform into that of angels. One especially gorgeous angel moves toward Frank with arms open for an embrace. As Frank goes to return the gesture, the Ghostbusters phase themselves back into our world, where Frank ends up romantically hugging a New Jersey transit cop ("a fat black female Jersey transit cop," as the treatment puts it). At the very end, we see a newborn in a hospital who as the exact same soft gray eyes as the late Professor Wyance."
  49. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 163. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "The opening was changed to a complex special effects shot that moves into and beneath the grave of philanthropic financier J.J. Desseter."
  50. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 163. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "The full-length script carries over the idea that the Ghostbusters have a larger operation now, one that's housed in a city sanitation garage with thirty Ectomobiles (though a scene with Louis Tully makes it clear the company is losing money)."
  51. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 163. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "Professor Wyance is replaced by Father Trenodius, a renowned theo-physicist who is also "the Church's leading authority on exorcism." He has theories about the afterlife but no magical invention to get there."
  52. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 163. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "In Hell, the sky burns orange, the streetlamps glow red, police officers are large minotaurs with "translucent blue skin," and it is impossible to travel faster than six miles per hour. The shady lawyer they meet is named Michael Taaaghaanikghh. "an orange-suited six-figure in a band orange-brown wig over a heavily leathered sun/jerkied and olive mottled head behind Jim Jones shades." The Devil is called Luke Siffler, and he actually manages to phase-shift over in our world for a few moments during the office battle."
  53. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 163-164. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "As the Ghostbusters discover that the heavenly area of New Jersey is partially a golf course, they see Venkman riding toward them in a golf cart. Ray Stantz starts to apologize to him for 'what happened' but Venkman interrupts: "Wait. I'm not Venkman. I assumed this familiar form for you because it is the best way to communicate to you so many complicated matters. However, Pete does say hello. He's in a very happy place and he forgives you for your part in the lab accident." God then invites all the overflow souls from Hell to Heaven to "be forgiven, redeemed and accepted"."
  54. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 163. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "When the Ghostbusters meet God toward the end of the script, Franky asks for an autograph. "No more autographs since Moses," God replies."
  55. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 295. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "86. Aykroyd, Ghostbusters III: Hellbent, First Draft, March 10, 1999, page 120."
  56. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 164. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Luke Siffler says: "Doll to the child, child to the woman, woman to the man, man to the devil. Bit sexist, but never mind. The point is, you won the day. THE! DAAAAAAY! Days are like seconds to me. How many minutes will it feel like until you're back here the old fashioned way?"
  57. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 163-164. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "As the Ghostbusters discover that the heavenly area of New Jersey is partially a golf course, they see Venkman riding toward them in a golf cart. Ray Stantz starts to apologize to him for 'what happened' but Venkman interrupts: "Wait. I'm not Venkman. I assumed this familiar form for you because it is the best way to communicate to you so many complicated matters. However, Pete does say hello. He's in a very happy place and he forgives you for your part in the lab accident." God then invites all the overflow souls from Hell to Heaven to "be forgiven, redeemed and accepted"."
  58. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 164. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "In a final confrontation, Siffler grows into his full demonic form, grabs Ray Stantz by the neck and climbs to the top of his building with him. Moira and Winston Zeddemore work to save Ray while Lovell and Franky fight off giant hell hornets. Siffler is defeated, everyone escapes, and the souls cross over to Heaven. The adventure ends in a traffic jam in the real world."
  59. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 165-166. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "Aykroyd and Tom Davis dusted off Hellbent in the summer of 2006 for a "limited revision." There were talks with Columbia Pictures around that time about reviving the script as a computer-animated feature. One of the most significant updates Aykroyd and Davis made to Hellbent added more color and weight to Peter Venkman's absence at the top of the story. After an experiment with a highly unstable artificial black hole goes awry, Ray Stantz looks up at a portrait of Venkman that graces a wall in the Ghostbusters headquarters. "I could have killed us all," he says. "Like my last mistake did to him." "Ray, you did not kill Venkman," Egon Spengler counters. "It was an industrial accident. He lost his grip and slipped." "But he was trying to help me." "Peter Venkman was the Chairman of this company. He called the shots on what we were to research. He was obsessed with developing his foolproof love potion and it cost him his life. We were all merely instruments in his hands." Astute, considering how attempts to revive Ghostbusters III in subsequent years would play out."
  60. Spook Central Archived Ghostbusters III News
  61. Spook Central Archived Ghostbusters III News
  62. Proton Charging Ghostbusters 3
  63. 63.0 63.1 Ghostbusters Movie Chronicles
  64. IGN Film Force "The Stax Report: Script Review of Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent!" 7/30/02
  65. In Focus Magazine 11/2005
  66. CISN Country 103.9 with Dan Aykroyd 2/1/07
  67. 67.00 67.01 67.02 67.03 67.04 67.05 67.06 67.07 67.08 67.09 67.10 IGN "IGN FilmForce Exclusive: The Stax Report: Script Review of Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent!" 7/30/2002
  68. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 9). "Franky says: "You know, the nature of life and death.."
  69. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 164. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Lovell says: "Yuh, this is why I made straight As at the Bronx School of Science."
  70. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 90). "Lovell says: "Man, I love dogs and everything but this is hell."
  71. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 9). "Carla says: "Yeah, well I think this is the greatest job in the world."
  72. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 90). "Moira says: "I'm a cat person. I've always been a cat person."
  73. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 9). "Carla says: "I'm just here to make enough money to go to flight school in Florida."
  74. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 16). "Line reads: "A TEN YEAR OLD BOY, DR. NAT COLBY. He has a very prominent cranium. Eyeglasses. Neatly coifed and in a GB uniform jumpsuit that has been tailored down to fit his chubby body."
  75. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 163. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "Their supervisor, Dr. Nat Colby, a ten-year-old with "a very prominent cranium," arrives to scold them for their clumsiness."
  76. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 17). "Line reads: "DR. WINSTON ZEDDEMORE."
  77. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (February 6, 1997 Treatment) (Script p. 6). "Line reads: "Spengler shows him a postcard from Venkman who is in Indonesia where he maintains to have staked out a claim on the world's biggest gold mine."
  78. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 25). "Line reads: "A PORTRAIT OF VENKMAN- WITH A GOLD PLAQUE- CLOSE-UP PETER VENKMAN 1948-1998."
  79. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 25). "Egon Spengler says: "Ray you did not kill Venkman. It was an industrial accident. He lost his grip and slipped."
  80. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 25). "Ray Stantz says: "He was obsessed with developing his foolproof love potion and it cost him his life."
  81. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 31). "Cardinal Steppino says: "He was the Chief Administrator of the V.I.G."
  82. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 31). "Cardinal Steppino says: "As well as being the Church's leading authority on exorcism he holds the highest rank in the Vatican Investigative Group. Verifying miracles and such."
  83. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 31). "Cardinal Steppino says: "He handled the worst possession cases and cast out many demons."
  84. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 31). "Line reads: "There is a spiritually enriched aura around this translucent-skinned 86 year old with shocks of white hair and brilliant blue eyes."
  85. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 29). "Line reads: "A fifty-ish, no nonsense, six foot, Italian New Yorker. A Mafiosi in scarlet ashes, black beads, and Cross."
  86. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 45). "Ray Stantz says: "Marta Dessetter, the third richest woman in the history of the universe?"
  87. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 46). "Line reads: "Early sixties but still really attractive like Lauren Bacall."
  88. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 163. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "After numerous scenes of the dead returning and trying to resume their lives, J.J. Desseter's extremely wealthy descendant Marta summons the Ghostbusters to her office. Marta, who is described as looking like Lauren Bacall, demands to know what they're going to do about all the undead people."
  89. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 1). "Line reads: "JOHN J. DESSETER FINANCIER-PHILANTHROPIST 1858-1938."
  90. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 2). "Line reads: "What's left of an impeccably attired white tie and tails-coated guy who died at ninety in 1938."
  91. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 4). "Line reads: "Former site of 1909 Beaux Arts building constructed by Core Coke Founder J.J. Desseter."
  92. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 3). "Line reads: "Part phantom, part corpse, three times the size he was in life and imbued with power of the dark afterlife. All his remnants, bones, rotting clothes, are smoldering. He taps open his top hat, jams it on his head then floats out THROUGH THE FENCE to the horror of the fleeing street people."
  93. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 10). "Franky says: "Sounds like you got a full fixed repeater."
  94. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 10). "Lovell says: "Class 4."
  95. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 16). "Moira says: "Uh..well we can invoice the city for one trapped FRV but we experienced an equipment failure."
  96. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 72). "Line reads: "She looks past her colleagues into the blackness of bodies to see- MICHAEL TAGHANIK."
  97. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 159-160. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "The Ghostbusters are trying to gain an audience with the mayor when "a grizzled old guy in turn of the century clothing with rheumy alcoholic eyes and a gaping bullet wound in the side of his head" who claims to be a lawyer offers help."
  98. http://www.ectozone.com/gbtimeline/03.php
  99. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 80). "Michael Taghanik says: "He's Chairman of the Reserve Bank and a real estate developer."
  100. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 84). "Line reads: "GRAPHIC- EXTREME CLOSE-UP- "L.Siffler" over the designation Chairman, Treasurer, Controller, Reserve Bank of Manhellton."
  101. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 92). "Line reads: "DIABOLAX SPIRE. 666 CENTRAL MINES SOUTH."
  102. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 96). "Luke Siffler says: "You see that we have traffic and population problems which could be substantially alleviated by dispatching our non-essential residents into your environment."
  103. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 111). "Line reads: "A GIANT HORNET Three by five foot twenty pound insect, it flies out is and is joined by more."
  104. Ghostbusters Fans Tristan Jones post 3/12/16Tristan Jones says: "Tried pitching it, several times. Got pretty much ignored at every turn."
  105. Ghostbusters Fans Tristan Jones post 3/13/16Tristan Jones says: "I'd love to do it, but I tried pitching it so many times that I'm not doing it again."
  106. Ghostbusters Fans Tom Waltz post 3/14/16Tom Waltz says: "We've discussed it a bit with Sony in the past but unforeseen circumstances (not the least of which was Mr. Ramis' tragic death) sidelined the idea as newer priorities within the brand (both at Sony and IDW) took center stage."
  107. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 33. Cinefex, USA. Harold Ramis says: "The idea came up while we were thinking about what big manifestations could happen when all hell's breaking loose. The idea we were shooting for was that because of all this psychic activity beneath the city, all the dead were returning to New York. We considered several ideas. One had the Hindenberg arriving with flaming passengers getting off carrying luggage that was also on fire. Another featured a ghostly subway station with rotting commuters. That was the precursor to the ghost train that is now in the film. We also had a cemetery scene where the gravestones were taking off like rockets. Then the idea for the Titanic hit me one day and that seemed to offer the most powerful images."


Gallery[]

Behind the Scenes Images[]

Secondary Canon Images[]

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