The long-awaited Ghostbusters 3 - championed by franchise costar/co-writer Dan Aykroyd - could begin production next year, after years of false reports and rumors about a filming start date being right around the corner.

Now... if the previous sentence didn't give you deja vu, then you're probably new to the painstaking process of awaiting for meaningful updates on Ghostbusters 3's slow crawl from the depths of development hell. However, we are pleased to announce that the latest unconfirmed update on the project does not come straight from Aykroyd's mouth (similar to yesterday's Emma Stone/Jonah Hill casting rumor); rather, from another, possibly more reliable source altogether.

Instead, this report arrives courtesy of an unnamed Sony Pictures Entertainment executive, who reportedly informed NBC Cleveland, Ohio affiliate WKYC (hat tip to Coming Soon) that the city of Cleveland is under consideration to serve as the shooting location for Ghostbusters 3, with principal photography scheduled to begin in 2014; most likely, in the spring.

The city has been a popular destination spot for big Hollywood blockbuster fare of late, what with Marvel Studios' having recently filmed both The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier in that area. Moreover, that prospective start date isn't too far off from the early 2014 estimate that Aykroyd offered six months ago (at the time of writing), which happened after longtime GB3 holdout Bill Murray had finally lost his rights to the Ghostbusters franchise.

ghostbusters 3 dan aykroyd rumors

The most recent Ghostbusters 3 script draft - based on a previous version written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky (Bad Teacher) - was put together by Etan Cohen; who, as it were, has proven to be adept at resurrecting these kind of dormant effects-heavy sci-fi/comedy franchises for Sony (see: his script for Men in Black III, which grossed $624 million worldwide and earned decent reviews). Last we heard, Ghostbusters 1 & 2 director Ivan Reitman was still in line to steer the ship on Part 3.

Here is the plot, as described by Aykroyd:

"['Ghostbusters 3' is] based upon new research that’s being done in particle physics by the young men and women at Columbia University... I can say that the world or our dimension that we live in... become threatened by some of the research that is being done. And ghostbusters, new ghostbusters have to come and solve the problem.”

Now, there's certainly potential in that premise. I could even imagine funny types like Stone and Hill pulling out the original Ghostbusters' old equipment/research and cracking meta jokes about how outdated it is; or, maybe a zinger or two about how desperate the University heads must be, to pull this old stuff out (a la the self-referencing in 21 Jump Street).

Question is, would that approach (or a similar one) work for most Ghostbusters fans? And, more importantly... should we even bother to believe any reports about GB3 (at least, before Sony issues an official press release/announcement)? Let us know what you think in the comments section!

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Ghostbusters 3 could (maybe) begin filming in 2014; as always, we'll keep you posted.

Source: WKYC [via Coming Soon]