Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ivan Reitman
Produced by	Ivan Reitman
Written by	Dan Aykroyd Harold Ramis
Starring	Bill Murray Dan Aykroyd Sigourney Weaver Harold Ramis Rick Moranis
Music by	Elmer Bernstein
Cinematography	László Kovács
Edited by	David E. Blewitt Sheldon Kahn
Production company	Black Rhino Delphi Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	June 7, 1984 (1984-06-07) (Westwood, California) June 8, 1984 (1984-06-08)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30 million[1]
Box office	$295.2 million[1]

Ghostbusters is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film,^[2][3] directed and produced by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City who start a ghost-catching business. Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis co-star as a client and her neighbor. The Ghostbusters business booms after initial skepticism, eventually requiring a fourth Ghostbuster, played by Ernie Hudson; but, when an uptown high-rise apartment building becomes the focal point of spirit activity linked to the ancient god Gozer, it threatens to overwhelm the team and the entire world.

Originally intended by Aykroyd as a project for himself and fellow Saturday Night Live alumnus John Belushi, the film had a very different story during initial drafts. Aykroyd's vision of "Ghostmashers" traveling through time, space, and other dimensions to fight large ghosts was deemed financially impractical by Reitman. Based on the director's suggestions, Aykroyd and Ramis finalized the screenplay in May–June 1982. They had written roles specifically for Belushi and John Candy, but were forced to change the script after Belushi died and Candy did not commit to the film.

Ghostbusters was released in the United States on June 8, 1984. It was a critical and commercial success, receiving a positive response from critics and audiences and grossing US$242 million in the United States and more than $295 million worldwide. It was nominated for two Oscars at the 57th Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects and Best Original Song (for the eponymous theme song), but lost to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Woman in Red respectively. The American Film Institute ranked Ghostbusters 28th in its AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs list of film comedies. The film launched the Ghostbusters media franchise, which includes a 1989 sequel, Ghostbusters II; two animated television series, The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters; and several video games.

In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".^[4] A reboot starring Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones is set for release in July 2016.

Plot

Misfit parapsychologists Peter Venkman, Raymond Stantz, and Egon Spengler are called to the New York Public Library after a series of apparent paranormal activities, where they encounter the ghost of a dead librarian but are frightened away when she transforms into a horrifying monster.

After losing their jobs at Columbia University, the trio establish a paranormal extermination/investigations service known as "Ghostbusters". They develop high-tech equipment capable of capturing ghosts and open their business in a disused, run-down firehouse. At the Sedgewick Hotel, they capture their first ghost and deposit it in a specially built "containment unit" in the firehouse basement. Paranormal activity then begins to increase in New York City. The Ghostbusters become celebrities by containing it but are increasingly overworked and hire a fourth member, Winston Zeddemore.

The Ghostbusters are retained by cellist Dana Barrett, whose apartment is haunted by a demonic spirit, Zuul, a demigod worshipped as a servant to Gozer the Gozerian, a Sumerian shape-shifting god of destruction. Venkman takes a particular interest in the case, and competes with Dana's neighbor, accountant Louis Tully, for her affection. As the Ghostbusters investigate, Dana is demonically possessed by Zuul, which declares itself the "Gatekeeper", and Louis by a similar demon called Vinz Clortho, the "Keymaster". Both demons speak of the coming of the destructive Gozer, and the Ghostbusters take steps to keep the two apart. Thereafter, the Ghostbusters' office is visited by Walter Peck, a lawyer representing the EPA. He has the team arrested for operating unlicensed waste handlers and orders their ghost containment system to be deactivated, causing an explosion that releases hundreds of captured ghosts. Freed from the Ghostbusters' custody, the escaped ghosts wreak havoc throughout the city while Louis/Vinz advances toward Dana/Zuul's apartment. Their romantic encounter opens the gate and transforms them into supernatural hounds.

Consulting blueprints of Dana's apartment building, the Ghostbusters learn that mad doctor and cult leader Ivo Shandor, claiming humanity was too sick to survive after World War I, designed the building as a gateway to summon Gozer and bring about the end of the world. The Ghostbusters are released from custody to combat the supernatural crisis, but after reaching the roof of Dana's building, they are unable to prevent the arrival of Gozer, who initially appears as a woman. Briefly subdued by the team, Gozer disappears, but her voice echoes that the "destructor" will follow, taking a form chosen by the team. Stantz inadvertently recalls a beloved corporate mascot from his childhood—"something that could never, ever possibly destroy us"—whereupon the destructor arrives in the form of a giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and begins attacking the city. To defeat it, the team decides to reverse the polarity of the portal by crossing the energy streams of their proton packs (which Egon had warned them to never do) and fire them against Gozer's portal. The resulting explosion defeats Gozer/The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and frees Dana and Louis from their possessor demons. As thousands of New Yorkers wipe themselves free of marshmallow goo, the Ghostbusters are welcomed on the street as heroes.

Cast

• Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman
• Dan Aykroyd as Dr. Raymond "Ray" Stantz
• Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett
• Harold Ramis as Dr. Egon Spengler
• Rick Moranis as Louis Tully
• Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore
• Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz
• William Atherton as Walter Peck
• David Margulies as Lenny Clotch, Mayor of City of New York
• Slavitza Jovan as Gozer
  • Paddi Edwards as Gozer (voice)

The cast also includes Alice Drummond as a librarian, Jennifer Runyon as an ESP volunteer, Michael Ensign as hotel manager, Jordan Charney as Dean Yager, and Reginald VelJohnson as a jail guard. Director Ivan Reitman provides the voices of Zuul and Slimer. Roger Grimsby, Ron Jeremy, Casey Kasem, Larry King, Joe Franklin, and Bill Walton made cameo appearances, plus a young Debbie Gibson appears as an uncredited extra.

Production

Development

Firehouse, Hook & Ladder Company 8, the New York City firehouse used as the exterior of the Ghostbusters headquarters

The movie's concept was inspired by Aykroyd's fascination with the paranormal. Aykroyd conceived it as a vehicle for himself and his friend and fellow Saturday Night Live alumnus John Belushi.^[5] The original story, as written by Aykroyd, was very different from what was eventually filmed. In the original version, a group of "Ghostsmashers" traveled through time, space, and other dimensions combating huge ghosts (of which the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man was one of many). They wore SWAT-like outfits and used wands instead of proton packs to fight the ghosts. (Original storyboards show them wearing riotsquad-type helmets with movable transparent visors.)^[6] In addition to a similar title, the movie shares the premise of professional "exterminators" on a paranormal mission with The Bowery Boys slapstick comedy Spook Busters (1946, directed by William Beaudine) as well as with the 1937 Disney short Lonesome Ghosts. Lonesome Ghosts includes the line "I ain't scared of no ghost".

Aykroyd pitched his story to director/producer Ivan Reitman, who liked the basic idea but immediately saw the budgetary impracticality of Aykroyd's first draft.^[7] At Reitman's suggestion, Aykroyd and Ramis gave the story a major overhaul, hammering out the final screenplay during a three-week stay in a Martha's Vineyard bomb shelter in May–June 1982.^[8]

In addition to Aykroyd's high-concept basic premise, and Ramis's skill at grounding the fantastic elements with a realistic setting, the film benefits from Bill Murray's semi-improvisational performance as Peter Venkman, the character initially intended for Belushi.^[7][8]

Shaving cream was used for the scene where the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man turns into goo.^[9]

Casting

Aykroyd and Ramis initially wrote roles especially for Belushi and John Candy. However, Belushi died before the screenplay was completed, and Candy would not commit to the project, so Aykroyd and Ramis made further changes that were reflected in the film's production.^[7] Candy would later appear in the music video for the film's theme song.

Louis Tully was originally conceived as a conservative man in a business suit to be played by comedian Candy; but Rick Moranis instead portrayed Louis as a geek.^[7] Gozer was originally to appear in the form of Ivo Shandor, a slender, unremarkable man in a suit, played by Paul Reubens;^[10] but the role was played by Yugoslav model Slavitza Jovan. The demonic voice of Gozer was provided by Paddi Edwards.

Release

Box office

Ghostbusters was released on June 8, 1984 in 1,339 theaters. It grossed $13.6 million on its opening weekend^[11] and $23 million in its first week, setting studio records at the time.^[12] The film was number one at the box office for five consecutive weeks, grossing $99.8 million.^[13] After seven weeks, it was finally knocked to the number-two position by Prince's film Purple Rain, at which point it had grossed $142.6 million, second only to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as the year's top moneymaker.^[14] Remarkably, Ghostbusters then regained the top spot the next week, and again six weeks later.^[15] It went on to gross $229.2 million, making it the second highest-grossing film of 1984, behind only Beverly Hills Cop.^[16] Adjusted for inflation, these figures put it within the top 40 highest-grossing films of all time.^[17] A 1985 re-release raised the film's United States gross to $238.6 million ($525 million in today's dollars^[18][19]), surpassing Beverly Hills Cop^[20] and making it the most successful comedy of the 1980s.

Critical response

Ghostbusters received widespread acclaim from critics and is considered by many as one of the best films of 1984.^{[21][22][23][24]} It holds a 97% "Certified Fresh" approval rating on review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 67 reviews; the site's consensus called the film "an infectiously fun blend of special effects and comedy, with Bill Murray's hilarious deadpan performance leading a cast of great comic turns".^[25] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 67 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[26]

Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four and wrote, "This movie is an exception to the general rule that big special effects can wreck a comedy ... rarely has a movie this expensive provided so many quotable lines."^[27] Newsweek magazine's David Ansen wrote, "Everyone seems to be working toward the same goal of relaxed insanity. Ghostbusters is wonderful summer nonsense."^[28] In his review for TIME, Richard Schickel praised the three lead actors: "Of the ghost wranglers, the pair played by writers Aykroyd and Ramis are sweetly earnest about their calling, and gracious about giving the picture to their co-star Bill Murray. He obviously (and wisely) regards Dr. Peter Venkman as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to develop fully his patented comic character."^[29] Pauline Kael had problems with the chemistry among the three lead actors: "Murray is the film's comic mechanism ... but nobody else has much in the way of material, and since there's almost no give-and-take among the three men, Murray's lines fall on dead air."^[30] In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote, "Its jokes, characters and story line are as wispy as the ghosts themselves, and a good deal less substantial."^[31]

Awards

The film received two Academy Award nominations, including Best Original Song (for the hit song "Ghostbusters") and Best Visual Effects (John Bruno, Richard Edlund, Chuck Gaspar and Mark Vargo). The film was nominated for two Golden Globes: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Bill Murray).

Home media

Ghostbusters made its debut on VHS and Betamax in 1985 months after the film was rereleased in theatres. The stereo soundtrack for the VHS transfer was reversed from right to left; the soundtrack was corrected in future editions of the film. In 1989, Criterion Collection released a LaserDisc version of the film, in a one-disc CLV version and a two-disc special edition CAV version. The latter included deleted scenes, a split-screen demonstration of the film's effects, the screenplay, and other special features.^[32] Director Ivan Reitman was not happy with the LaserDisc release of the film because "it pumped up the light level so much you saw all the matte lines. I was embarrassed about it all these years".^[33] The DVD version of the movie was released on June 29, 1999,^[33] at a time when an estimated four million U.S. households had DVD players, and became one of Reel.com's fastest selling products.^[34]

Sony announced at Comic-Con 2008 that the Blu-ray version of the film would be released on October 21, 2008. Sony initially made it available through their promotional website Ghostbustersishiring.com. The movie was released on Blu-ray on June 16, 2009 to coincide with the film's 25th Anniversary. Ghostbusters was the first film ever officially released on a USB flash drive.^[35] A second Blu-ray version, released on May 14, 2013, was marketed as "Mastered in 4k".^[36]

2011 and 2014 re-releases

Sony Pictures re-released the film in nearly 500 theaters in the United States on October 13, 2011, and the following two Thursdays before Halloween of that year.^[37]

Sony reissued the film for a limited time in a remastered 4k version just ahead of the 2014 Labor Day weekend for its 30th anniversary. Originally a one-week re-release, it ran for three weeks ending on September 18, 2014.^[38]

Music

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to Ghostbusters was released on LP in 1984 by Arista Records. The film's theme song, "Ghostbusters", written and performed by Ray Parker, Jr., sparked the catchphrases "Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!" and "I ain't afraid of no ghost." The song was a huge hit, staying at number one for three weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and for two weeks on the Black Singles chart, and brought Parker an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. According to Bruce A. Austin (in 1989), the theme "purportedly added $20 million to the box office take of the film".^[39]

In autumn of 1984, singer and songwriter Huey Lewis sued Ray Parker, Jr. for plagiarism, claiming that Parker copied the melody from his 1984 song "I Want a New Drug". Lewis had been approached to compose the main theme song for the movie, but declined due to his work on the soundtrack for Back to the Future. The two musicians settled out of court. It was reported in 2001 that Lewis allegedly breached an agreement not to mention the original suit, doing so on VH1's Behind the Music.^[40]

The music video produced for the song became a number-one video on MTV. Featuring actress Cindy Harrell, directed by Ivan Reitman, produced by Jeffrey Abelson, and conceptualized by Keith Williams, the video integrated footage of the film with a humorous performance by Parker. It also featured cameo appearances by celebrities who joined in the call-and-response chorus, including Chevy Chase, Irene Cara, John Candy, Melissa Gilbert, Ollie E. Brown, Jeffrey Tambor, George Wendt, Al Franken, Danny DeVito, Carly Simon, Peter Falk, and Teri Garr. The video concludes with Parker and the stars of the film, in full Ghostbuster costume, dancing and singing behind Parker in Times Square.

Personnel

• Ray Parker, Jr. – vocals, guitar, bass, synthesizer, drums
• Russell Hitchcock – vocals
• Graham Russell – bridge vocals
• Barry Gibb – background vocals, guitar, orchestral arrangement
• Kenny Loggins – background vocals
• Sheena Easton – background vocals
• Irene Cara – background vocals
• Steve Lukather – guitar
• James Newton Howard – keyboards
• David Paich – keyboards
• Steve Porcaro – keyboards, synthesizer
• David Foster – piano
• Nathan East – bass
• Tris Imboden – drums
• Albhy Galuten – orchestral arrangement

Score

Ghostbusters: Original Motion Picture Score
Film score by Elmer Bernstein
Released	2006
Genre	Classical, electronic
Length	68:02
Label	Varèse Sarabande

The film score was composed by Elmer Bernstein, and is notable for its use of ondes Martenot (a staple of Bernstein's 1980s work) and also the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer. Orchestrators contributing to the film were Peter Bernstein, David Spear and Patrick Russ. The score was commercially released in 2006 as Ghostbusters: Original Motion Picture Score by Varèse Sarabande. It contains 39 tracks by Bernstein.

Critical reception

Reviewers at AllMusic have awarded both the Original Soundtrack Album and the Original Motion Picture Score 4 out of a total 5 stars. Evan Cater describes the Original Soundtrack Album somewhat pejoratively as "a very disjointed, schizophrenic listen" that "does very little to conjure memories of the film". However, he notes that there are exceptions to this, namely Ray Parker Jr.'s title track "Ghostbusters", Mick Smiley's "Magic", and the two inclusions from Elmer Bernstein's score.^[41] Jason Ankeny describes the Original Motion Picture Score as "epic in both sound and scale", noting that it "ranks among Bernstein's most dazzling and entertaining efforts, evoking the widescreen wonder of its source material", concluding that "his melodies beautifully complement the wit and creativity of the onscreen narrative."^[44]

Sequels

After the success of the first film and the animated series The Real Ghostbusters, Columbia Pictures pressured the producers to make a sequel. However, Aykroyd, Ramis and Reitman were uncomfortable with this, as the original film was intended to be conclusive and they wished to work on other projects. Eventually, they agreed and created a script. The second film, Ghostbusters II, was released in 1989.

A script for a potential third film was under development by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, the writing team that worked with Ramis on the 2009 comedy Year One; according to Ramis, the four main cast members from the original film may have minor on-screen roles: "The concept is that the old Ghostbusters would appear in the film in some mentor capacity."^[45] Comments from Murray in August 2010, after Year One's release suggested the latter's poor reception made a new Ghostbuster sequel unlikely.^[46] Two months later, Aykroyd downplayed Murray's comments, saying Stupnitsky and Eisenberg "wrote Bill the comic role of a lifetime, and the new Ghostbusters and the old are all well represented in it"; they wrote a "strong first draft" that Aykroyd and Ramis would work on.^[47] In February 2012, Aykroyd said, "The script must be perfect. We cannot release a film that is any less than that. We have more work to do." ^[48] On February 24, 2014, Ramis died, causing Sony Pictures to re-evaluate the script that they were writing for Ghostbusters III.^[49] Sony was planning on starting production in New York early in 2015, but Reitman decided to pull out of directing the film in light of Ramis's death. Reitman, however, will help to find a new director.^[50] It was revealed on March 20, 2014, that Phil Lord and Chris Miller were in talks to direct the film, but by April 8, 2014, the duo had decided to pass on the project.^[51] On May 30, 2014, The Wrap reported that Ruben Fleischer is being considered to direct the third film.^[52] Weaver told Vanity Fair that her character's son, Oscar, would be a Ghostbuster in the film.^[53]

On August 2, 2014, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the studio wanted Paul Feig to direct the film and wants to make it an all female Ghostbusters team.^[54] On September 17, 2014, Aykroyd told The Hollywood Reporter that he wants to do a Ghostbusters-style universe as what Marvel did with their own universe.^[55] On October 8, 2014, The Hollywood Reporter announced that screenwriter Katie Dippold and director Paul Feig would be writing the script.^[56] On December 10, 2014, both Rebel Wilson and Jennifer Lawrence revealed they have been approached for a role in the reboot, while Emma Stone, Melissa McCarthy, Amy Schumer and Lizzy Caplan are interested in appearing.^[57][58][59] On December 15, 2014, leaked emails from Sony revealed Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt’s ultimate plan to team up for a Ghostbusters spin-off film, with Tatum comparing it to Batman Begins.^[60] The main cast members were announced as Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon in January 2015. The film is scheduled to start shooting in mid-2015 in New York City, with a projected release date of July 22, 2016.^[61] In a February 2015 interview on Ron Bennington's Unmasked radio show, Aykroyd stated that he would still like to see his idea for a sequel made.^[62]

Legacy

Film fans dressed as Ghostbusters, in 2011.

The film became a cultural phenomenon and an instant classic. The American Film Institute ranked it 28th in its list of the top 100 comedies of all time (in their 100 Years... 100 Laughs list),^[63] and nominated it for its lists of the 100 greatest movies in 1998^[64] and 2007^[65] and the 100 most heart-pounding movies (in AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills).^[66][67] The title song was nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs,^[68] and two quotes were nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes: "We came. We saw. We kicked its ass," and "He slimed me," both spoken by Venkman.^[69] In 2005, IGN voted Ghostbusters the greatest comedy ever.^[70] In 2006, Bravo ranked Ghostbusters 76 on their 100 Funniest Movies list.^[71] Entertainment Weekly ranked it as the Funniest Movie of the Past 25 Years.^[72] In 2008, Empire magazine ranked the film #189 on its list of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.^[73] In 2009, National Review magazine ranked Ghostbusters number 10 on its 25 Best Conservative Movies of the Last 25 Years list.^[74] In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Ghostbusters the 44th greatest comedy film of all time.

See also

• Ghost Sweeper Mikami
• List of ghost films

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Ghostbusters

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ghostbusters.

• Official website
• Ghostbusters at the Internet Movie Database
• Ghostbusters at AllMovie