Back off, man, I’m a scientist

In theaters Friday: Celeste and Jesse Forever [limited], Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, Total Recall
New on Blu-ray/DVD: Damsels in Distress, Hijacked, LOL

Well that’s that. I’m sure Dan Aykroyd is sad about a lot of things—aliens, Blues Brothers 2000—but we can now add to this list Aykroyd’s dismay at Bill Murray’s final and completely official refusal to appear in the long-in-development Ghostbusters 3. Which means this 2010 Scream Awards appearance is the last time we’ll ever see Murray in the famous khaki jumpsuit.

Apparently, Peter Venkman’s cavernous absence isn’t stopping the film, which has a new writer in Men in Black 3‘s Etan Cohen (no, not Ethan Coen, as if you had to ask, though I’d much rather see his take on the Ghostbusters story), and will presumably see Ray, Egon and Winston passing the proverbial torch to a younger generation of proton pack warriors. I’m sure somewhere Jonah Hill’s phone is ringing.

Ghostbusters 3 will be another in a long line of unnecessary sequels, including the recently announced Hobbit 3: Shoulda Put a Ring on It. The only bigger shame than this film existing is that Murray couldn’t find it in himself to help shape a script he could get excited about so he could give fans one more slice of one of his most iconic characters. But Murray marches to his own drummer, and if his role in the recent Moonrise Kingdom is any indication, he can keep making Wes Anderson movies and unique indie films for as long as he wants

How great was this, though?