The film would take place in the present, starting off with the death of Dr. Peter Venkman. While Venkman, Ray, and Egon are attempting to catch a ghost in Central Park, Venkman is attacked by the ghost and has a heart attack, having to be rushed off to the hospital. With his wife and adopted son by his side (Dana and “Oz” Oscar Venkman), Venkman dies. Bill Murray has expressed a level of disinterest in reprising the role and has mentioned doing a third film if his “character was killed off in the first reel." The film will then go to a funeral scene and then fade to black.
A year goes by. Ray and Egon are still running the Ghostbusters from the old firehouse, but are starting to have doubts about pursuing this any further. Winston has stayed on staff, but works as a maintenance man, fixing the Ectomobile and other machinery. Secretary Janine Melnitz still has her name on the front desk, but she is no longer present (Winston does most of the phone answering, though not many calls come in). The business is failing and this, along with Venkman’s death, begin the thought of closing it for good.
Dana is present mostly for homage to the old films (you can’t have a Ghostbusters film without Sigourney Weaver). However, she will be present throughout the film acting as a guide for Oscar (“Oz”), who has taken the place of Dana’s role as the “reality rebound character.” Oz will be seen trying to cope with Venkman’s death throughout the first act of the film and dealing the guilt he feels for the way he treated his surrogate father (Oz, like some children, held a grudge against his real father for not being there for him and, therefore, took that frustration out on Venkman).
As the last major event in Ghostbusters history took place 21 years ago, and paranormal activity has been down in New York since then, most people in the city have returned to thinking the Ghostbusters frauds and disbelieving in ghost. This has resulted in the lack of business for the Ghostbusters. What little calls they do receive are usually either false alarms or pranks at their expense.
The story will soon shift to a new character, Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn, a curator at the Museum of Natural History. When Ilyssa loses her job, she goes searching on the internet for new employment. When she falls upon the Ghostbusters website, though by accident, she is intrigued and decides to pay them a visit. This visit comes at just the right time, as paranormal activity seems to be mysteriously spiking all around the city.
Oz starts to volunteer at the firehouse helping Winston, which he does to kill time until he can find a job in his career (by this time, Oscar will be old enough to have already graduated from college). Oz also helps around the lab as Ray and Egon work to find an answer to the current spike in ghost sightings. So far, they’ve been unable to uncover anything, but the idea occurs to them to recruit some new Ghostbusters. Oz is the first to volunteer, but he is turned down, Ray and Egon not wanting to go behind Dana’s back. Instead, Ilyssa is considered for the job when she comes walking through the door.
As Egon and Ilyssa work together to train her and to recruit other new members, Ray and Winston go out to take care of some of the ghosts (Winston again strapping on his proton pack temporarily until he can be replaced). As they are doing this, Ray keeps seeing something in his peripheral vision, but it disappears whenever he turns his head (he sees this more than once, and it resembles the ghost that the team was chasing a year ago in Central Park).
Throughout this period, Winston and Oz become closer, Winston becoming a much respected mentor. Winston, though aware of it or not, is building up Oz’s spirits and is paving the way for the young man’s decision later in the film. Ray, Egon, and Dana don’t necessarily feel comfortable yet with the idea of Oz spending so much time at the firehouse.
Egon manages to decide on two new recruits (three including Ilyssa), Eduardo Rivera (a reluctant choice in a young, cocky expert of paranormal psychology and psychology) and Roland Jackson (a studious African-American machinery whiz). Ilyssa, in the meantime, has found an answer to the current ghosts spike. While examining some old files, Ilyssa came across the name Ivo Shandor (the architect and the leader of the Gozer cult mentioned in the first film), a person of interest to her as she is his descendant. Looking into things more closely, Ilyssa found that Shandor had worked on a number of other building renovations throughout the city. Going out and taking readings, Ilyssa finds that these buildings have higher levels of paranormal activity than any other place in the city.
Ray and Egon later discover that the buildings are all connected by a series of tunnels that are channeling ectoplasmic slime through the city. These specific Shandor-renovated buildings act as nodes on a mandala, as a means to merge the real world with the Ghost World and bring forth another Great Destructor like Gozer. The new Ghostbusters are sent out to deal with guardians that are protecting each of these nodes, while Ray and Egon trace the tunnels back to their origin: the Hudson River. The new Ghostbusters have dealt with the node guardians, but something much worse has come to fruitition.
A mansion atop an island mysteriously rises out of the middle of the Hudson River. While the new Ghostbuster deal with trouble from the authorities (which seems to be a common theme), Ray and Egon have determined that the mansion once belonged to Ivo Shandor. When the city erupts with an army of ghosts being unleashed, the Ghostbusters are called on. Oz decides, without the approval of Ray or Egon (but with the encouragement of Winston), that he is going to join the others as they march to the mysterious island.
It turns out that the ghost from Central Park a year ago is causing all of the problems and is the spirit of Ivo Shandor. The three new Ghostbusters and Oz are pitted against Shandor, who has grown more powerful over time as he has fed off of the paranormal activity of the city. The rookies, though instructed not to, are only able to defeat Shandor by crossing the proton streams. After the spirit is abolished the danger is not over. The island immediately starts to crumble and sink back into the river. The whole island eventually goes under, taking the four rookies with it. However, they are all four soon seen swimming back to shore. The credits begin to role in traditional fashion when they get up on the dock and are greeted by Ray, Egon, Dana, and Winston.
Cast
Dr. Peter Venkman (“The Mouth of the Ghostbusters”)- Bill Murray (Basically a cameo.)
Dr. Ray Stantz (“The Heart of the Ghostbusters”)- Dan Aykroyd
Dr. Egon Spengler (“The Brain of the Ghostbusters”)- Harold Ramis
Winston Zeddmore (“The Everyman’s Ghostbuster”)- Ernie Hudson
Dana Venkman- Sigourney Weaver
Oscar “Oz” Venkman (“The New Heart of the Ghostbusters”)- Emile Hirsch
Hirsch is right around the age that Oscar would be currently. He is also a fine actor and would fit well in this role as a character that grows over time to follow in the footsteps of his adopted father. The only problem is his dark hair, but that can be resolved.
Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn (“The New Brain of the Ghostbusters”)- Alyssa Milano
I don’t how she would work for a live-action film, but Milano did voice the character in Ghostbusters: The Video Game. With that connection to the franchise already, I don’t see any reason not to cast her in the role.
Eduardo Rivera (“The New Mouth of the Ghostbusters”)- Seann William Scott
Though his name suggests that he is Latino (as he is in the cartoon of his origin), Sean William Scott immediately came to mind for this character. Scott has that smart ass personality that works for Eduardo being the younger reflection of Venkman.
Roland Jackson (“The New Everyman’s Ghostbuster”)- Lee Thompson Young
Young has been in many things, though hasn’t really broken through as a well-known actor. Despite that fact, he seems to be quite talented and something like this could escalate his career (though, what happened to Hudson may repeat itself and Young may just become known as “The Black Ghostbuster”).
Ivo Shandor- Liam Neeson + CGI
This seems like it could be too small of a role, considering Neeson’s credentials. The two major villains in the other two films were on screen for a short amount of time and weren’t well-known actors. However, Neeson came to mind and seems like he could be good for this role if played correctly. Shandor’s ghost won’t really become anything that too much resembles a normal human until the very end of the film, which also presents a problem. Maybe what would be best would be to cast a good character actor that isn’t too well-known. Otherwise, Neeson seems like he could work.
This film should basically be a passing of the torch. In the same way that Star Trek: Generations helped make the jump from the old Enterprise to the new, this film will help to make a jump from the old Ghostbusters to the new. The difference in that example, however, is that the old Ghostbusters are still present and active, they just aren’t going to be getting their hands dirty anymore. What this would do is make it so that another one or two films could be made with the new team. What I did with this plot is combine aspects of Ghostbusters: The Video Game with some characters from Extreme Ghostbusters (an animated series from the late ‘90s) and apply it to the contemporary. I shouldn’t take too much credit for this, because I took what was already present and twisted it into my own perspective. Whatever Aykroyd, Ramis, and Reitman are working on now is sure to be good (if it gets off the ground), but this is the way I would handle it.