Comingsoon.net recently talked to Harold Ramis over the phone about his new film, Year One. Unsurprisingly, the interview briefly turned to Ghostbusters:

“I wrote the story for the new movie with them, and Dan and I’ve been consulting. We’re just waiting to see a first draft and where we are,” Ramis told us, although he’s very optimistic it will happen with Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson returning as well. “Everyone says they’ll do it, they’ve all said they’ll do it. No one has signed anything yet–we haven’t signed anything either–but there’s the spirit of willingness in the air.”

Last week, Ivan Reitman was asked by MTV about his involvement in the project, but Ramis isn’t so sure Reitman would want to direct it, even though it’s obviously too early to tell. “I don’t think he wants to; I’m not sure I want to (direct). It’s just a lot of open questions. Until we see a script, I don’t think anyone really knows how they feel about it. Everyone’s open to doing it, that’s the main thing, that’s what got it moving forward.”

He did confirm that there will be a younger cast donning the backpacks and outfits with the original cast acting more as mentors to them. “Oh, yeah. There will be new Ghostbusters. It’s not about us running around. We’ll be introducing new people.”

Sony pictures released a new site hoping to add interest to the Ghostbusters Blu-Ray release. GhostbustersisHiring.com. So far you can sign up for a newsletter and a chance to win a trip to Comic-Con. I would imagine the updates to be pretty cool.

In other Ghostbusters news, 1UP streamed them playing through Time Square on the 360 version. As well as bustin’ Slimer on the Wii. I’d say it has minor spoilers. They were kind enough to save a lot of stuff for when you play the game. Most of the cinematic sequences and dialogue are narrated over. Its a fun watch:

JoBlo posted the following pics:

Rumors about a third Ghostbusters movie have been around as long as the second installment, but it just seems to never get off the ground due to one reason or another. An aspect of the third movie has always been surround a passing of the torch to a new generation of Ghostbusters, and as the original cast gets older (and wiser, of course) this aspect seems to have become a necessity. LA Times’ Geoff Boucher got the chance to talk to Dan Aykroyd about Ghostbusters 3 and he seems to think they are on track to start filming it late this year… of course, a cough in the wrong direction could change that at any second, but let’s stay optimistic shall we? Check out the story below.

Courtesy Geoff Boucher, LA Times

I just visited with Dan Aykroyd over at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip for an interview for an upcoming feature in the Los Angeles Times (you’ll be able to find it here on the Hero Complex as well). We talked about a wide range of topics, but I didn’t want to wait on this update about the third “Ghostbusters” film, which is moving forward after so many years.

Aykroyd said Sigourney Weaver is on board now, as are the original squad of ectoplasmic specialists — Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson. Murray’s presence was the pivot point in making a third film happen. He holds a one-fifth controlling interest in the property rights and has been seen as the most reluctant to return to the paranormal comedy. Aykroyd said that is true but that it’s more nuanced than the public portrayal of the situation.

“I don’t put not making the third movie on Billy. We can’t do that. I’ve been very busy. Harold’s been busy, Ivan’s been busy. And a third script really didn’t coalesce properly. And Billy, you can’t blame an artist for not wanting to do the same thing again. He did two of them, for God’s sake. Although I’m the biggest cheerleader as the originator of the concept but I’ve never begrudged Billy not doing a third movie. I never said he held it up or that he refused. Hey, listen, he’s an artist. You can’t force somebody into it. I’m sorry he never read my third draft because I thought it was pretty good but, look, now we’re at a point that there’s a story that he can accept and that’s going to work, and I think we’re going to be in production fairly soon. We could be in production by winter.”

The script is by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, the writing team behind the upcoming Jack Black/Michael Cera movie “Year One” (directed by Ramis), and Aykroyd is enthused about its premise of a new generation of Ghostbusters taking over the duties of the aging team. Aykroyd said he wishes Ivan Reitman would return to direct the third film in the series but that he’s “too busy as a mega-producer” to take it on; his second choice is Ramis, who, of course, co-wrote the first two “Ghostbusters” films with Aykroyd and has numerous directing credits, most notably “Groundhog Day” and “Analyze This.” “He has a lot of things going on, but it would be wonderful to see him do it.”

Aykroyd says he believes the movie will move forward but that he has also learned that “at any second everything could blow up.” The details of story are still in play, but Aykroyd said he’s hoping for a five-member “new generation” team with several female members. “I’d like it to be a passing-of-the-torch movie. Let’s revisit the old characters briefly and happily and have them there as family but let’s pass it on to a new generation.”

Who does Aykroyd think would be good in the jumpsuits? Aykroyd mentioned two names, Alyssa Milano (who is a voice in the upcoming “Ghostbusters” video game) and Eliza Dushku. “I think they’re amazing,” he said. “And I’m excited about the whole idea of getting this done.”

Here’s the complete list of Ghostbuster’s Achievements. It looks like this game will have some pretty good replay value.

We Have the Talent! – Bronze/20 pts.
Complete the Firehouse Tutorial level.

The Flowers are Still Standing! – Bronze/20 pts.
Complete the “Welcome to the Hotel Sedgewick” level.

Once S’more into the Breach – Bronze /20 pts.
Complete the “Panic in Times Square” level.

Get Her! – Bronze/20 pts.
Complete the “Checking Out the Library” level.

Ghost Fever Grips New York – Bronze/20 pts.
Complete the “Museum of (Super)Natural History” level.

Somebody Saw a Cockroach on 12 – Bronze/20 pts.
Complete the “Return to the Sedgewick” level.

Let Me Guess, Gozer Worshippers – Bronze/20 pts.
Complete the “Lost Island Rising” level.

Disaster of Biblical Proportions – Bronze/20 pts.
Complete the “Central Park Cemetery” level.

We Came, We Saw… – Silver/50 pts.
Complete the game on “Casual” or “Experienced” difficulty.

Are You a God? – Gold/100 pts.
Complete the game on “Professional” difficulty.

Slam Dunk! – Bronze/15 pts.
Slam dunk a ghost into a trap.

Slime Dunk! – Bronze/15 pts.
Trap a ghost using the Slime Tether.

Stasis Dunk! – Bronze/15 pts.
Trap a ghost using the Stasis Stream.

I Ain’t ‘Fraid of No Ghost! – Bronze/10 pts.
Trap a ghost.

Aim for the Flat Top! – Bronze/10 pts.
Eliminate a creature.

Heat ‘Em Up – Bronze/20 pts.
Purchase all upgrades for the Proton Gun.

Mother Pus Bucket! – Bronze/20 pts.
Purchase all upgrades for the Slime Gun.

We be fast! They be slow! – Bronze/20 pts.
Purchase all upgrades for the Dark Matter Generator.

I Don’t Want My Face Burned Off – Bronze/20 pts.
Purchase all upgrades for the Meson Collider.

We Have the Tools! – Silver/40 pts.
Purchase all equipment upgrades.

The Destructor – Bronze/30 pts.
Cause more than $5,000,000 in property damage.

Nice Shootin’, Tex! – Bronze/30 pts.
Cause less than $100,000 in property damage.

…And You Want to Keep It? – Bronze/20 pts.
Collect a Cursed Artifact.

Spores, Molds, and Fungus – Gold/40 pts.
Collect all Cursed Artifacts.

I’m Picking Up a Signal… – Bronze/20 pts.
Obtain a 100% PKE scan on a paranormal creature.

Back Off Man. I’m a Scientist – Gold/40 pts.
Obtain 100% PKE scans for every paranormal creature.

I’m a Ghostbuster, Not a Doctor! – Bronze/20 pts.
Revive your fellow Ghostbusters 20 times.

I Feel So Funky – Bronze/5 pts.
Get slimed by a charging ghost.

Total Protonic Reversal – Bronze/5 pts.
Knock yourself down, with your own weapon.

You Gotta Try This Pole! – Bronze/5 pts.
Slide down the fire pole.

It’s Slime Time – Bronze/20 pts.
Use the Slime Tether on 15 ghosts.

I Looked at the Trap, Ray! – Bronze/20 pts.
Recover 20 of your own full ghost traps.

Kosher! – Bronze/10 pts.
Remedy a dubious food choice to make the bar mitzvah as orthodox as it can be.

I Love You When You Rough-House! – Bronze/10 pts.
The tidy architectural office could use some Proton-based humbling.

But the Kids Love Us! – Bronze/20 pts.
The children’s reading room has a story to tell, but it will take more than your eyes to see it.

You Never Studied – Bronze/10 pts.
Keep your ears open to learn everything you can about the Civil War.

I’ve Quit Better Jobs Than This. – Bronze/20 pts.
Some ghosts had a real blowout in the Coat Room. Clean it up?

Hedgebuster – Bronze/10 pts.
The hedge maze is a real eyesore – do some Protonic pruning.

One down, on the Ground! – Bronze/20 pts.
Airborne coffins are an affront to gravity. Use your equipment to avenge Mother Nature!

Ghostbusters Drinking Game – Silver/40 pts.
Quench your thirst wherever possible to avoid being scared spitless.

Loans Paid Off – Bronze/10 pts.
Earn over $100,000 in your multiplayer Ghostbusting career.

On the Payroll – Bronze/10 pts.
Successfully complete one multiplayer campaign.

Egon’s Guinea Pig – Bronze/10 pts.
Use one of every Pickup (both Power-ups and Equipment).

Payday! – Bronze/10 pts.
Be the overall top earner in each multiplayer campaign setting.

It’s a Living – Bronze/10 pts.
Trap over 50 ghosts in your multiplayer Ghostbusting career.

Wanted! – Bronze/10 pts.
Defeat three Most Wanted Ghosts.

Employee of the Month – Bronze/10 pts.
Be the top earner in each multiplayer job type.

No Job Too Big – Bronze/10 pts.
Defeat all Most Wanted Ghosts.

Gozer’s Most Wanted – Bronze/15 pts.
Complete each level in the game successfully.

Overachiever – Silver/15 pts.
Get over $2,500,000 cash in multiplayer, earn over 30 awards, complete 50 jobs successfully.

Wow, there are a lot of MiniMates coming out featuring our favorite paranormal investigators. GBcollector.com had the scoop featuring Toys ‘R’ Us exclusive MiniMates:

Diamond Select Toys & Collectibles, LLC and Sony, today announce a partnership to design and produce new collectibles based on the action-packed Ghostbusters franchise, specifically Minimates and banks featuring characters from the unstoppable Ghostbusters series!

The Diamond Select Toys (DST) Ghostbusters lines will debut this summer just in time for the worldwide debut of Ghostbusters: The Video Game, the latest small-screen follow-up to Ghostbusters – which was ranked the #1 Comedy of the Century by Entertainment Weekly! A special edition Minimates box set featuring characters from the video game will also be available as part of the Slimer Edition bundle exclusively offered through Amazon.com for the X-Box 360, Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3.

In addition, Art Asylum has designed several lines of collectible Ghostbusters Minimates which will begin arriving in stores this July. The first box set will be available in specialty comic book stores and a complementary assortment of two-packs will also be available in Toys R Us. The Ghostbusters Series 1 box set will be available in specialty comic book stores this July and will contain Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Egon Spengler, a Possessed Dana Barrett and the transforming Louis Tully with Terror Dog attachments. Toys R Us will offer an assortment of two-packs, each featuring an exclusive ghost including: the Library Ghost, Terror Dog, Washington Square Ghost, Slimer and the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man! Look for the first assortment of exclusives to be available in Toys R Us stores nationwide this June.

For more product announcements and to browse other science-fiction, television and film collectibles, please visit www.diamondselecttoys.com and www.artasylum.com.

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As you can see, these variants each come in a 2 pack with one Ghostbusters and one translucent ghost.

Check out the first cut scene for the upcoming game:

Depending on your browser, it might work better if you hit the full screen button. Or you can visit GameTrailers.com.

Here’s a snippet below:

…and when we do the Ghostbusters 3 movie, hopefully, Sigourney will be in, I know. We’ll make that happen.” That ‘hopefully’ was in reference to making the movie, I believe, not to Weaver’s role in it. He followed up with, “but there’ll be a whole new generation that has to be trained. And that whole new generation will be led by an individual that you’ll all love when you hear who it is, but I’m not going to tell you now. There will be lots of cadets, boys and girls, who’ll be learning how to use the cyclotron, the accelerators, and the new stuff. The nuon splitter, the inter-planary interceptor, all these great tools they’re going to have to flip from dimension to dimension. Anyway. Game number two, maybe.

Read the rest of the interview at Chud.com.