If you’re looking for a movie to take the place of the now shelved ‘Ghostbusters 3’, then you may not have to wait too long. THR has reported that Legendary Pictures has just bought the film rights to an Ian Fried spec script called ‘Spectral.’

Fried is sure to be ecstatic as it’s one thing to sell a script for 6 figures but to also have it bought by the same company that is producing ‘Man of Steel’ and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is a major coup. ‘Spectral’ is described as a darker and more serious version of a ‘Ghostbusters’ type of story.  The plot involves a group of special op soldiers who hunt evil ghosts that have taken over Manhattan.

In order to help sell the script, Fried put together a film treatment (an oral short story describing events from the script as they happen) as well as a “rip reel” (clips of various movie scenes to simulate what the final tone, pacing and visual should be like for the story). It seems like it did the trick as Legendary Pictures decided to go ahead with the project.

Fried is not new to the supernatural genre as he has written several specs that have caught the eye of many film executives. One of his top scripts ‘The Ever After Murders’, which featured fairy tale characters Tom Thumb and Little Red Riding Hood investigating a murder, even made it to last year’s 2010 Black List. The Black List is a compilation of screenplays suggested by hundreds of film executives of their favorite scripts that were written and somehow uniquely associated with the year the list was made. The screenplay also cannot be made into a movie that would be released during that same calendar year. This past summer, Fried’s spec script, ‘Gaslight’ about a Gothic serial killer which featured Florence Nightingale and Jack the Ripper also intrigued executives.

It seems as though this year supernatural spec scripts are the hot commodity. Within the last month, studios have secured the film rights to ‘Hyperdrive’, ‘The End’ and ‘Grim Night’ to name a few. Let‘s hope that these projects go beyond the screenplay stage and seriously start production soon!