Ghostbusters 3 NewsDan Aykroyd has been a very successful comedic actor for three decades now. He's got some great classics under his belt, but to me, none compare to the Ghostbusters tandem he did with Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson donning the tan suits, with Ivan Reitman in the director's chair. Word has it that the long gestating Ghostbusters III will be finally moving forward with production set to begin in 2013.

Without Bill Murray.

I'll let that sink in for a moment.

In other news, Robert Redford wants to do a sequel to Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, obviously without Paul Newman (because he sadly passed away in 2008, remember?). Also, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney plan to tour as The Beatles without John Lennon and George Harrison.

No, I haven't lost my mind. It may seem blasphemous to compare either of those hypothetical situations to Ghostbusters III, given that Bill Murray is very much alive. The decision to move forward without him on the film was done by Aykroyd, who has confirmed Murray is "100% not involved." He states that Murray was the reason it took so long for this project to get off the ground, Murray was too critical and stalled the project often. Can anyone blame him though? It's obvious Aykroyd's trying to save his already fledging career. Granted, I did say he's been successful for three decades, but let's face it, he hasn't been churning out the quality in the last decade. So no wonder he wants to move forward with Murray, because he has to pay bills.

But a world without Murray, especially in a franchise that he was a foundation for, seems ludicrous. I've heard rumors that the script will involve Ray Stantz training the new team of Ghostbusters. To appeal to the new generation. An older rumor put Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill in that "generation" of possibilities. Excuse me for a moment. I have to digest this concept once again, because the first time I heard it I felt the sudden urge to headbutt the sidewalk.

It's not that it's a bad thing to mix generations. It's very healthy for the movie industry to do so, especially in comedies. It can breathe new life into an actor/actress and give audiences a truly memorable experience. But this is a formula for disaster. It's like Aykroyd found a copy of The New Karate Kid script and thought "hey, let's apply this to Ghostbusters now!" This will not end well.

I will wait with bated breath for when they cast Zac Efron as Egon. It'll happen folks. Thank you Dan Aykroyd for destroying our childhood.