'Ghostbusters 3' to begin production in spring

NEW YORK, July 21 (UPI) -- Ghostbusters III will begin production in 2015.

Creator Dan Aykroyd made the announcement Monday on Today. The 62-year-old actor wrote and starred as Dr. Raymond Stantz in the first two installments, and said filming should begin in spring.

"It looks like we'll be in pre-production in the spring now, from what I'm hearing," he told host Carson Daly. "It should be good."

The original movie debuted in 1984, and starred Aykroyd as Stantz, Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman, Harold Ramis as Dr. Egon Spengler, Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore and Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett. The actors reprised their roles in the 1989 sequel Ghostbusters II.

The third film has languished for years without progress, and co-creator and star Ramis died in February. Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II director Ivan Reitman is attached to direct the new movie, and the plot is said to center on a new generation of Ghostbusters.