Judgement Day.

A message to the people that license intellectual properties at Sony: It was about friggin' time! Rumor has it that the real hold up behind the fact that there have never been action figures based on the 4 ghostbusters as they were seen in the movies was Bill Murray(there was a long running toy line based on the cartoon of the 80's as well as a collection based on the Extreme Ghostbusters toon of the 90's), if that really was the case, I'm happy he finally changed his mind.

In recent years with toy collecting becoming something that some adults have taken up as a hobby, innumerable movie characters, ranging from indie films to cult pictures, have been turned into plastic figurines that nerds love. It would be unfair to say that Ghostbusters didn't get any love, because some 5 years ago the ghosts of the first movie were treated with care and made into high quality figures... but the deal to make the four ghostbusters themselves was never reached... until now.


Actually Ghostbusters despite being a fairly well-known franchise has always seemed to receive a cold-shoulder from the people at Sony. There was never a "Collector's Edition" type DVD release, packed with exciting extras, just a 1999 release that while good for it's time was never improved on. The Blu-Ray to be released later this year seems to be a direct port of that DVD with pretty much the same extras but better video quality. There is a videogame coming out this year to celebrate the movie's 25th anniversary, but at some point it seemed like it was going to be canceled. The landmark animation series was finally last year released in it's entirety, but only after years and years of pleading by the fanbase. I've also heard that some high-quality, and super-expensive, movie props replicas are coming out... so maybe the Sony people finally is opening their eyes.

Which brings me to the recurring rumor that there are plans for a 3rd Ghostbusters movie. I say rumor because ever since the mid-90's reports on scripts and ideas for a new movie have surfaced, but they always fall apart. I'm a huge fan of the first movie, but I really think the 2nd movie is a dull mess, so I have mixed feelings on the possibility of a 3rd one. Sure, seeing the guys doing some ghostbusting action might be fun to see, but not if it comes at the expense of the comedy, the characters or the story. I'm convinced I don't want to see middle-aged men running around with proton-packs on their backs and complaining they are too old for it. I'm sure the characters can't be recast because no current high-profile comedian can do the understated type comedy that Murray, Ayckroyd, Ramis, Hudson, Moranis and Co. were able to mold in 1984. Having people like Jack Black, Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller or Will Smith as a new generation of ghostbusters is just plain wrong... there is no good solution to the problem, except not making a Ghostbusters III.

Ghostbusters II was bad enough.