Murray dubbed this version The Last Of The Ghostbusters – specially to rule out a third movie – but once he'd signed on, the concept changed completely. Murray later admitted he found the experience unsatisfying, despite feeling the sequel had some funny scenes. He also felt the effects overwhelmed the story.
Plans for a third Ghostbusters film began during filming of the second one, but Harold Ramis was unsure about it because of the main cast's ages and how difficult it was to get them all together. In addition to that, Bill Murray wasn't interested in coming back for another film.
"When we did the sequel it was rather unsatisfying for me, because the first one to me was the goods. It was the real thing," the actor and SNL alum said during a 2008 interview with Gizmodo. "The sequel, it was a few years later [and] there was an idea pitched.
On April 25, 2023, Ernie Hudson indicated that Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Annie Potts would reprise their roles from previous Ghostbusters movies in the film; Aykroyd confirmed he would return for the sequel in June 2023.
Why did Bill Murray change his mind about Ghostbusters?
According to Vulture, it was knowing that two of his favourite female comedians were involved. Although he was never keen for the film to happen ("That's true, I wasn't," he admitted), the addition of Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy — who he called “a great hope” — changed his mind.
Bill Murray - "Why I probably won't do Ghostbusters 2..." (1987)
Why did Harold Ramis and Bill Murray not talk?
Star Murray and director Ramis had such intense creative disagreements that one day Ramis grabbed Murray by the shirt collar and threw him against a wall. After that, Murray didn't speak to Ramis for over 20 years.
Speaking about the legacy of the movie in a 2008 interview, Murray reflected: “When we did the sequel, it was rather unsatisfying for me because the first one to me was the goods. It was the real thing. The sequel, it was a few years later [and] there was an idea pitched.
Brian Murray (born October 31, 1945), known professionally by his stage name as Brian Doyle-Murray, is an American actor and screenwriter. He has appeared with his younger brother, actor/comedian Bill Murray, in several films, including Caddyshack, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II, Groundhog Day, and The Razor's Edge.
Ghostbusters has been such a huge part of our popular-culture for the last 30 years that it's easy to overlook what it represented at the time. In June 1984, when the film opened in theaters, Bill Murray was only 33 years old. Dan Aykroyd was just 31 and director Ivan Reitman was 37.
Instead, the film earned $215.4 million during its theatrical run compared with the original's $282.2 million, making it the eighth-highest-grossing film of the year. Columbia Pictures deemed it a financial and critical failure, effectively dissuading Murray from participating in a third Ghostbusters film.
Did Ghostbusters: Afterlife ignore Ghostbusters 2?
"No, Ghostbusters II, definitely canon," Reitman said. "There are references to Ghostbusters II in Afterlife. We meet Ray working at Ray's Occult. The toaster from Ghostbusters II is in the kitchen in the farmhouse.
Dan Aykroyd, who co-wrote and co-starred in "Ghostbusters" with Ramis, was at North Shore Congregation Israel with wife Donna Dixon, as were Chevy Chase, star of Ramis' "Caddyshack" and "National Lampoon's Vacation," with his wife, Jayni; "SCTV" co-stars Eugene Levy and Dave Thomas; Second City co-owner/CEO Andrew ...
“The studio wasn't [inclusive], and the studio continued not to be,” said Hudson. “So it made it very, very difficult because I was a part of it, but then I very selectively was pushed aside.” “When the posters came out, I'm not on the poster,” recalled Hudson. “It took a long time.
However, with the arrival of Communism in China, secularism was enforced and any depiction of ghosts or spirits was expressly forbidden. It's been that way for many, many years and even with the adoption of Western culture and policies in China, banning films with ghosts still happens.
As the title "Ghostbusters" was legally restricted by the 1970s children's show The Ghost Busters, owned by Universal Studios, several alternatives titles were considered, including "Ghoststoppers", "Ghostbreakers", and "Ghostsmashers".
William “Bill” Murray said he enlisted in the military at the age of 17 because everyone else his age was doing it in the 1940s. He also wanted to have a choice in what branch he served in, which was the U.S. Navy.
Aykroyd is a former reserve commander for the police department in Harahan, Louisiana, working for Chief of Police Peter Dale. While on the force, Aykroyd carried his badge with him at all times. He currently serves as a reserve deputy of the Hinds County Sheriff's Department in Hinds County, Mississippi.
The second of nine Murray siblings, Brian Doyle-Murray, Bill and Joel's older brother, was a cast member in Chicago and the inaugural Toronto ensemble before going on to write and act in a multitude of projects.
Cameo. Brian Doyle-Murray: The psychiatrist at the mental hospital is played by Bill Murray's brother. Bobby Brown: The doorman at Gracie Mansion when the Ghostbusters meet with the Mayor.
Moranis turned down a cameo appearance in Paul Feig's Ghostbusters, sharing that it didn't make sense to him to “do just one day of shooting” on something he did 30 years ago.
How come Rick Moranis wasn t in Ghostbusters: Afterlife?
Moranis passed on lending his voice and likeness to the 2009 release of Ghostbusters: The Video Game, and also decided not to cameo in Paul Feig's 2016 reboot Ghostbusters, saying that it didn't make sense to him to "do just one day of shooting on something I did 30 years ago.” (via The Hollywood Reporter).
It has been reported that for the original sequel, 1989's Ghostbusters II, Murray, Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and director Ivan Reitman received an upfront salary of $6 million each and a 35% split of the gross, which would have netted them an estimated $50 million in all.
"They had a few arguments on set, including one in which my dad uncharacteristically lost his temper, grabbed Bill by the collar, and shoved him up against a wall,” she reveals. “Eventually, Bill just completely shut my dad out… for the next twenty years.”
