Ghostbusters 3: Not Filming in Chicago

By Steven Pate in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 24, 2010 8:00PM

Recently we saw some reports the Ghostbusters sequel that has been in the works for the past couple of years was finally starting to gear up. A "fine-tuned" script was handed over to Dan Ackroyd (the prime mover in the Ghostbusters re-animation universe), filming was to begin next year and Sony is putting out casting calls in L.A. and... Chicago? On Location Vacation was reporting that they were casting in Chicago because filming was to take place here.

Whether or not that meant actually changing the setting to the Windy City, it justifiably unnerved the hardcore Ghostbusters fans. Subsequent reports have now indicated that this was not the case The film may have been the product of Chicago born and/or bred talent (Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Harold Ramis), but Ghostbusters was always a definitively New York City-oriented franchise. Putting it anywhere else just seems wrong. Whether or not the casting rumors (Bill Hader, Will Forte and Anna Ferris?) strike the fans as just as wrong is as yet a mystery.

We're all for movies being filmed in Chicago. For now, the Matt Damon/Kate Winslett vehicle Contagion, filming on the North Shore, will have to do. But Ghostbusters Chicago was not a good idea. We wouldn't want a Blues Brothers sequel filmed in New York. Actually, make that we wouldn't want another Blues Brothers sequel, period. Proton packs aside, sometimes it's best to leave the dead to rest in peace, Mr. Ackroyd.