OMG, Bill Murray has confirmed the ghost story:

"Once upon a time, I said 'Yeah, I'll do it if you kill me off in the first reel.' Then recently in the mail I got this note from Aykroyd and it was a note to the writers. They hired these guys who write The Office in the US to write it. I got sent the notes and they said 'Venkman will die early on'. So now they are going to have me as a ghost throughout the movie.

"That's not bad. It could be funny."

source

I still don't buy this. I don't care if its Murray saying it or not. He's been saying lots of stuff that goes right in the face of other things he's said, so I'm not buying it.

Yorkshire Post
Published Date: 23 October 2009

Says it all, really.

I knew I'd read those comments before.

well what….. we got a year and a half to go. we will see soon enough!

This whole thing is panning out to be a disaster.

Sigourney was a lot more vague this go around with MTV. When asked, she replied, “I don't know. He could come back as a sort of Slimer character.” She continues, “I haven't read the script … I guess my little son Oscar who was kidnapped is a Ghostbuster, which makes me very proud.”

So now they are going to have me as a ghost throughout the movie.

Bill Murray, October 2009 (Yorkshire Post)

I think Bill Murray has a little more to do with it - he’s a ghost.

Sigourney Weaver, December 2009 (Channel 4)



Sigourney Weaver, 16th December 2009 (MTV): Will Bill Murray really be a ghost?

I don't know, he could come back as a sort of Slimer character. (…) I haven't read the script. (…) In a few weeks I'll actually know what it is, though I probably won't be able to talk about it.

Who knows … (*winston)

Okay, I got to throw my two cents into this thread.

I've been sitting on the thought of this and I'm praying to go that this isn't true. I have some doubts about Bill Murray returning to the franchise considering his lack of enthusiasm when asked about GB3. Peter Venkman…a ghost…really? If Murray isn't too thrilled to wear a proton pack what makes you think he'll want to be a free-floating-full-torso-apparition? Would he come back in human form with Slimer trailing behind like man's-er, ghost's best friend? Or would he come back as something else? And if Peter is dead where does that leave our other GBs?

A year and a half left? I don't remember this picture getting the green light just yet nor has there been any official word of an approved script or director attracted to the project. Has there? And what is this I saw here last week about Ivan Reitman being killed? I couldn't find anything to back up that story.

Time and time again I've read articles of Murray saying the script has to be REALLY GOOD for him to return. I think they would be able to do better than this. Maybe we are all being taken on a ride from the latest GB movie news. I'd like to think that GB3 could be more like GB1 after seeing the disaster GB2 was. Let's try to take a step forward with this, not backwards.

I never thought i'd say this… but if this is the way GB3 is going to turn out, i'd rather they just not make it.

everything at the moment is all speculation untill there is a statement fro sony. Wait till everything is said and done. Your thoughs might change.