Ghostbusters is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, respectively, a trio of eccentric parapsychologists who start a ghost-catching business in New York City. The film also stars Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis, and features Annie Potts, William Atherton, and Ernie Hudson in supporting roles.
Based on his own fascination with spirituality, Aykroyd conceived Ghostbusters as a project starring himself and John Belushi, in which they would adventure through time and space battling supernatural threats. Following Belushi's death in 1982, and with Aykroyd's concept deemed financially impractical, Ramis was hired to help rewrite the script to set it in New York City and make it more realistic. Ghostbusters was the first comedy film to employ expensive special effects, and Columbia Pictures was concerned about its relatively high $25–30 million budget and had little faith in its box office potential. Filming took place from October 1983 to January 1984, in New York City and Los Angeles. Due to competition for special effects studios among various films in development at the time, Richard Edlund used part of the budget to found Boss Film Studios, which employed a combination of practical effects, miniatures, and puppets to deliver the ghoulish visuals.
Ghostbusters was released on June 8, 1984, to critical acclaim and became a cultural phenomenon. It was well received for its blend of comedy, action, and horror, and Murray's performance was often singled out for praise. The film earned $282.2 million during its initial theatrical run, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 1984, and the then-highest-grossing comedy ever. It was the number-one film in theaters for seven consecutive weeks and was one of only four films to gross more than $100 million that year. Further theatrical releases have increased the total gross to approximately $295.2 million, making it one of the most successful comedy films of the 1980s. In 2015, the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. Its theme song, "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Jr., was also a number-one hit.
With its effect on popular culture, and a dedicated fan following, the success of Ghostbusters launched a multi-billion dollar multimedia franchise. This included the popular animated television series The Real Ghostbusters (1986), its sequel Extreme Ghostbusters (1997), video games, board games, comic books, clothing, music, and haunted attractions. Ghostbusters was followed in 1989 by Ghostbusters II, which fared less well financially and critically. Attempts to develop a second sequel paused in 2014 following Ramis's death. A 2016 reboot, also called Ghostbusters, was released to mixed reviews and financial failure. A second sequel to the 1984 film, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, was released in November 2021.
Plot:
Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler are parapsychology professors at Columbia University investigating the paranormal. Following their first encounter with a ghost manifesting at the New York Public Library, the university dean fires them and dismisses the credibility of their research. In response, they establish "Ghostbusters", a paranormal investigation and elimination service operating out of a disused firehouse. They develop high-tech nuclear-powered equipment to capture and contain ghosts, although business is initially slow.
After a paranormal encounter in her apartment, cellist Dana Barrett calls the Ghostbusters. She recounts seeing a demonic dog-like creature that uttered a single word: "Zuul". Ray and Egon research Zuul and details of Dana's building while Peter offers to inspect her apartment in a failed attempt to seduce her. The Ghostbusters are hired to remove a gluttonous ghost, Slimer, from the Sedgewick Hotel. Having failed to properly test their equipment, Egon warns the group to never cross the energy streams of their proton pack weapons as it could cause a catastrophic explosion. They capture the ghost and deposit it in an ecto-containment unit under the firehouse. Supernatural activity rapidly increases across the city and the Ghostbusters become famous for their exploits; they hire a fourth member, Winston Zeddemore, to cope with the growing demand.
Suspicious of the Ghostbusters, Environmental Protection Agency inspector Walter Peck asks to evaluate their equipment but is rebuffed by Peter. Later, Egon warns that the containment unit is nearing capacity and supernatural energy is surging across the city. Peter meets with Dana and informs her Zuul was a demigod worshipped as a servant to "Gozer the Gozerian", a shape-shifting god of destruction. When Dana returns home, she is possessed by Zuul; a similar entity possesses her neighbour, Louis Tully. Peter arrives and finds the possessed Dana/Zuul claiming to be "the Gatekeeper". Louis is brought to Egon by police officers and claims he is "Vinz Clortho, the Keymaster". The Ghostbusters agree to keep the pair separated.
Peck returns with law enforcement and city workers to have the Ghostbusters arrested and their containment unit deactivated, causing an explosion that releases the captured ghosts. Louis/Vinz escapes in the confusion and makes his way to the apartment building to join Dana/Zuul. In jail, Ray and Egon reveal Dana's building was designed by Ivo Shandor, leader of a Gozer-worshipping cult, to function as an antenna to attract and concentrate spiritual energy to summon Gozer and bring about the apocalypse. Faced with supernatural chaos across the city, the Ghostbusters convince the mayor to release them.
The Ghostbusters travel to the apartment building roof as Dana/Zuul and Louis/Vinz open the gate between dimensions and transform into demonic dogs. Gozer appears in the form of a woman and attacks the Ghostbusters then disappears when they attempt to retaliate. Her disembodied voice demands the Ghostbusters "choose the form of the destructor". Ray inadvertently recalls a beloved corporate mascot from his childhood, and Gozer reappears in the form of a gigantic Stay Puft Marshmallow Man that begins destroying the city. Against his earlier advice, Egon instructs the team to cross their proton energy streams at the dimensional gate. The resulting explosion destroys Gozer's avatar, banishing it back to its dimension, and closes the gateway. The Ghostbusters rescue Dana and Louis from the wreckage and are welcomed on the street as heroes.
Production
Development:
Ghostbusters was inspired by Dan Aykroyd's fascination with and belief in the paranormal. This was inherited from his father (who wrote the book A History of Ghosts), his mother (who claimed she had seen ghosts), a grandfather (who experimented with using radios to contact the dead), and a great-grandfather (a renowned spiritualist). In 1981, he read an article on quantum physics and parapsychology in The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, which gave him the idea of trapping ghosts. Aykroyd was also drawn to the idea of modernizing the comedic ghost films of the mid-20th century made by teams like Abbott and Costello (Hold That Ghost (1941)), Bob Hope (The Ghost Breakers (1940)), and The Bowery Boys (Ghost Chasers (1951)).
Aykroyd wrote the script, intending to star in the movie alongside Eddie Murphy and his close friend and fellow Saturday Night Live (SNL) alumnus John Belushi, before the latter's accidental death in March 1982. Aykroyd recalled writing one of Belushi's lines when producer and talent agent Bernie Brillstein called to inform him of Belushi's death. He turned to another SNL former castmate, Bill Murray, who agreed to join the project, albeit without an explicit agreement, which is how he often worked. Aykroyd pitched his concept to Brillstein as three men who chase ghosts and included a sketch of the "Marshmallow Man". He likened them to normal pest control workers, saying that "calling a Ghostbuster was just like getting rats removed". Aykroyd believed Ivan Reitman was the logical choice to direct, based on his successes with films like Animal House (1978) and Stripes (1981). Reitman was aware of the film's outline while Belushi was still a prospective cast member, and it took place in the future with many groups of intergalactic ghostbusters. He felt it "would have cost something like $200 million to make". Aykroyd's original 70- to 80-page script treatment was more serious in tone and intended to be scary.
Reitman met with Aykroyd at Art's Delicatessen in Studio City, Los Angeles, and explained his concept would be impossible to make. He suggested setting it entirely on Earth would make the extraordinary elements more humorous, and if they focused on realism from the beginning then the Marshmallow Man would be more believable by the end. Reitman also wanted to detail the Ghostbusters' origins before starting their business, saying "this was beginning of the 1980s: everyone was going into business". Following the meeting, the pair met Harold Ramis at Burbank Studios. Reitman had worked with him on previous films and believed he could better execute the tone he intended for the script than Aykroyd. Reitman also felt Ramis should portray a Ghostbuster; after he read the script, Ramis joined the project immediately.
Despite the script requiring considerable changes, Reitman pitched the film to Columbia Pictures executive Frank Price in March 1983, who recounted finding the concept funny but the project itself controversial, as comedies were seen to have a ceiling on profitability. Price said the film would require a big budget due to the special effects and popular cast. Reitman said they could work with $25–30 million; different figures have been cited. Price agreed as long as the film could be released by June 1984. Reitman admitted he made up the figure, basing it on three times the budget for Stripes, which seemed "reasonable". This left thirteen months to complete the film, with no finished script, effects studio, or filming start date. He hired Joe Medjuck and Michael C. Gross as associate producers, having collaborated with them previously. Columbia's CEO Fay Vincent sent his lawyer Dick Gallop to Los Angeles to convince Price not to pursue the film, but Price disagreed. Gallop returned to head office reporting Price was "out of control".
Several titles were considered for the film since "Ghostbusters" was legally restricted by the Universal Studios-owned 1970s children's show The Ghost Busters. Options included "Ghoststoppers", "Ghostbreakers", and "Ghostsmashers". Price parted ways with Columbia early in Ghostbusters' production and became head of Universal Pictures, at which point he sold Columbia the title for $500,000 plus 1% of the film's profits. Given Hollywood's accounting practices—a method used by studios to artificially inflate a film's production costs to limit royalty or tax pay-outs—the film technically never made a profit for Universal to be owed a payment.
Writing:
Aykroyd, Ramis, and Reitman began reworking the script, first at Reitman's office before sequestering themselves and their families on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Aykroyd had a home there, and they worked day and night for approximately two weeks in his basement. He was understanding about the reworking of his script because he considered himself a "kitchen sink" writer who created the funny situations and paranormal jargon, while Ramis refined the jokes and dialogue. They wrote separately and then rewrote each other's drafts. Many scenes had to be cut, including an asylum haunted by celebrities, and an illegal ghost storage facility in a New Jersey gas station. Their initial draft was completed when they left the Vineyard in mid-July 1983, with a third and near-final draft ready by early August. When Murray later flew to New York after the filming of The Razor's Edge (1984) to meet Aykroyd and Ramis, he offered little input on the script or his character. Having written for Murray multiple times before, Ramis said he knew how to handle his character's voice.
It was decided early on that Ramis's character would be the brains of the Ghostbusters, Aykroyd's the heart, and Murray's the mouth. Aykroyd drew inspiration from fiction archetypes, he said, "Put Peter Venkman, Raymond Stantz, and Egon Spengler together, and you have the Scarecrow, the Lion, and the Tin Man". Aykroyd's concept called for the Ghostbusters to have a boss and be directed into situations. Ramis preferred they be in control "of their own destiny" and make their own choices. This led to the development of more distinct identities for the characters: Peter as the cool, modern salesman; Ray as the honest, enthusiastic technician; and Egon as the factual, stoic intellectual.
Reitman believed the most difficult part of the writing was determining the story's goal, who the villain was and their goal, why ghosts were manifesting, and how a towering Marshmallow Man appeared. The creature was one of many elaborate supernatural entities in Aykroyd's initial treatment, originally intended to emerge from the East River only twenty minutes into the film. It stood out to Reitman but concerned him because of the relatively realistic tone they were taking. While this process was occurring, Reitman was searching for a special effects studio for the film, eventually recruiting Richard Edlund in the same two-week span.
Cast/Characters:
Murray was considered essential to Ghostbusters' potential success, but he was known for not committing to projects until late. Price agreed to fund Murray's passion project The Razor's Edge, believing if it failed it would lose little money, but he hoped the gesture would secure Murray's commitment to Ghostbusters.[8] Michael Keaton, Chevy Chase, Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, Steve Guttenberg, and Richard Pryor were also looked at for the role. Christopher Walken, John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Goldblum, and Keaton were considered to portray Egon. Ramis was inspired by the cover of a journal on abstract architecture for Egon's appearance, featuring a man wearing a three-piece tweed suit, wire-rim glasses, with his hair standing straight up. He took the character's first name from a Hungarian refugee with whom he attended school and the surname from German historian Oswald Spengler. Apart from the three main stars, Medjuck was largely responsible for casting the roles. Ernie Hudson went through five auditions for the character of Winston Zeddemore. According to him, an earlier version of the script gave Winston a larger role as an air force demolitions expert with an elaborate backstory. Excited by the part, he agreed to the job for half his usual salary. The night before shooting began, he was given a new script with a greatly reduced role; Reitman told him the studio wanted to expand Murray's part. Aykroyd has said this was the role intended for Eddie Murphy, although Reitman refuted this. Gregory Hines and Reginald VelJohnson were also considered for the part.
Daryl Hannah, Denise Crosby, and Julia Roberts auditioned for the role of Dana Barrett, but it was Sigourney Weaver who attracted the filmmakers' attention. There was resistance to casting her because of the generally serious roles she had played in Alien (1979) and The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Weaver revealed her comedic background, developed at the Yale School of Drama, and began walking on all fours and howling like a dog during her audition. It was her suggestion Dana become possessed by Zuul; Reitman said this solved issues with the last act by giving the characters personal stakes in the events. Weaver also changed the character's occupation from that of a model to a musician, saying that Dana can be somewhat strict, but "you know she has a soul because she plays the cello".
John Candy was offered the role of Louis Tully. Candy told Reitman he did not understand the character and suggested portraying Tully with a German accent and multiple German Shepherds; the filmmakers felt there were already enough dogs in the film. Candy chose not to pursue the role. Reitman had previously worked with Rick Moranis and sent him the script. He accepted the role an hour later. Moranis developed many aspects of his character, including making him an accountant, and ad-libbed the lengthy speech at Tully's party. Sandra Bernhard turned down the role of the Ghostbusters' secretary Janine Melnitz, which went to Annie Potts. As she arrived for her first day of filming, Reitman rushed Potts into the current scene. She quickly changed out of her street clothes and borrowed a pair of glasses worn by the set dresser which her character subsequently wore throughout the film.
William Atherton was chosen for the role of Walter Peck after he had appeared in the Broadway play Broadway. Peck was described as akin to Margaret Dumont's role as a comedic foil to the Marx Brothers. Atherton said, "It can't be funny, and I don't find [the Ghostbusters] in the least bit charming. I have to be outraged". The role of the Sumerian god Gozer the Gozerian was originally intended for Paul Reubens, envisioned as a business-suited architect. Reubens passed on the idea, and it went to Yugoslavian actress Slavitza Jovan. The role changed to one inspired by the androgynous looks of Grace Jones and David Bowie. Paddi Edwards was uncredited as the voice of Gozer, dubbing over Jovan's strong Slavic accent.
Filming:
Principal photography began in New York City on October 28, 1983. On the first day, Reitman brought Murray to the set, still unsure if he had read the script. Filming in New York lasted for approximately six weeks, finishing just before Christmas. Reitman was conscious they had to complete the New York phase before they encountered inhospitable December weather. At the time, choosing to shoot in New York City was considered risky. In the early 1980s, many saw the city as synonymous with fiscal disaster and violence, and Los Angeles was seen as the center of the entertainment industry. In a 2014 interview, Reitman said he chose New York because "I wanted the film to be ... my New York movie". As Reitman was working with comedians, he encouraged improvisation, adapting multiple takes and keeping the cast creations that worked, but directing them back to the script.
Some guerrilla filmmaking took place, capturing spontaneous scenes at iconic locations around the city, including one shot at Rockefeller Centre where the actors were chased off by a real security guard. A scene was shot in Central Park West with extras chanting "Ghostbusters" before the name had been cleared. Medjuck contacted the studio urging them to secure permission to use the word as the title.
The building at 55 Central Park West served as the home of Weaver's character and the setting of the Ghostbusters' climactic battle with Gozer. The art department added extra floors and embellishments using matte paintings, models, and digital effects to create the focal point of ghostly activity. During shooting of the final scene at the building, city officials allowed the closure of the adjacent streets during rush hour, affecting traffic across a large swath of the city. Gross remarked that, from the top of the building, they could see traffic queuing all the way to Brooklyn. At various points, a police officer drew his gun on a taxi driver who refused orders; in a similar incident, another officer pulled a driver through his limo window. When angry citizens asked Medjuck what was being filmed, he blamed Francis Ford Coppola filming The Cotton Club (1984). Aykroyd encountered science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov, a man he admired, who complained, "You guys are inconveniencing this building, it's just awful; I don't know how they got away with this!" Directly next to 55 Central Park West is the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, which is stepped on by the Marshmallow Man.
Other locations included New York City Hall, the New York Public Library, the Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts, Columbus Circle, the Irving Trust Bank on Fifth Avenue, and Tavern on the Green. Firehouse, Hook & Ladder Company 8 in the Tribeca neighbourhood was used as the Ghostbusters' headquarters. Columbia University allowed its Havemeyer Hall to stand in for the fictional Weaver Hall, on the condition the university not be identified by name.
Filming moved to Los Angeles, resuming between Christmas and the New Year. Due to the film's use of practical effects, skilled technicians were needed who resided mainly in the city and soundstages that were non-existent in New York. Despite its setting, most of Ghostbusters was filmed on location in Los Angeles or on sets at Burbank Studios. Location scouts searched for buildings that could replicate the interiors of buildings being filmed in New York. Reitman tried using the interior of Hook & Ladder 8, but was unable to take it over long enough because it was an active fire station. Interior firehouse shots were taken instead at the decommissioned Fire House No. 23 in downtown Los Angeles. The building design, while common in New York, was a rarity in Los Angeles. An archival photograph of an active crew in Fire House No. 23 from 1915 was hung in the background of the Ghostbusters' office.
While filming took place in the main reading room of the New York Public Library (filming could only take place early and had to be out by 10:00 am), the basement library stacks were represented by the Los Angeles Central Library as Reitman said they were interchangeable. The Millennium Biltmore Hotel stood in for the scenes set at the fictional Sedgewick Hotel. Principal photography concluded at the end of January 1984, after between 55 and 62 days of filming.
Post-Production:
The short production schedule and looming release date meant Reitman was editing the film while it was being shot. There was often only time for a few takes. Reitman sometimes found making an effects-laden movie frustrating, as the special effects had to be storyboarded and filmed in advance; there was no option to go back and produce new scenes. As Gross described it, "You storyboard in advance, that's like editing in advance. You've got a scene, they're going to approve that scene, and we're going to spend nine months doing that cut. There's no second takes, no outtakes, there's no coverage. You can cut stuff, but you can't add stuff. It made Reitman so confined that it really bothered him".
A deleted scene involved a segment at "Fort Deterring" where Ray has a sexual encounter with a female ghost. The scene was intended to introduce a love interest for Aykroyd. Ramis believed it was extraneous to the fast-moving plot, however, so Reitman used the footage as a dream sequence during the mid-film montage instead. Editor Sheldon Kahn sent Reitman black-and-white reels of sequences during filming. They not only allowed him to make changes, but he considered they also helped him understand how to better pace the film. Kahn completed the first full cut of the film three weeks after filming concluded. The final cut of the film runs for 105 minutes.
Music:
The Ghostbusters score was composed by Elmer Bernstein and performed by the 72-person Hollywood Studio Symphony orchestra at The Village in West Los Angeles, California. It was orchestrated by David Spear and Bernstein's son Peter. Elmer Bernstein had previously scored several of Reitman's films and joined the project early on, before all the cast had been signed. Reitman wanted a grounded, realistic score and did not want the music to tell the audience when something was funny. Bernstein used the ondes Martenot (effectively a keyboard equivalent of a theremin) to produce the "eerie" effect. Bernstein had to bring a musician from England to play the instrument because there were so few trained oudists. He also used three Yamaha DX7 synthesizers. In a 1985 interview Bernstein described Ghostbusters as the most difficult score he had written, finding it challenging to balance the film's varying comedic and serious tones. He created an "antic" theme for the Ghostbusters he described as "cute, without being really way out". He found the latter parts of the film easier to score, aiming to make it sound "awesome and mystical".
Early on Reitman and Bernstein discussed the idea that Ghostbusters would feature popular music at specific points to complement Bernstein's original score. This includes "Magic" by Mick Smiley, which plays during the scene when the ghosts are released from the Ghostbusters headquarters. Bernstein's main theme for the Ghostbusters was later replaced by Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters". Bernstein personally disliked the use of these songs, particularly "Magic", but said, "it's very hard to argue with something like "Ghostbusters", when it is up in the top ten on the charts".
Music was required for a montage in the middle of the film, and "I Want a New Drug" by Huey Lewis and the News was used as a temporary placeholder because of its appropriate tempo. Reitman was later introduced to Parker Jr. who developed "Ghostbusters" with a similar riff to match the montage. There were approximately 50 to 60 different theme songs developed for Ghostbusters by different artists before Parker Jr.'s involvement, though none was deemed suitable. Huey Lewis was approached to compose the film's theme, but was already committed to work on Back to the Future (1985).
Design:
During the film's thirteen-month production, all the major special effects studios were working on other films. Those that remained were too small to work on the approximately 630 individual effects shots needed for Ghostbusters. At the same time, special effects cinematographer Richard Edlund planned to leave Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and start his own business. Reitman convinced Columbia to collaborate with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), which also needed an effects studio, to advance Edlund $5 million to establish his own company, Boss Film Studios. According to Edlund, lawyers used much of the setup time finalizing the contract, leaving only ten months remaining to build the effects studio, shoot the scenes, and composite the images. The Boss Film Studios' team was split to complete work on Ghostbusters and MGM's science-fiction film 2010: The Year We Make Contact. The $5 million effects came in at $700,000 over budget. The strict filming schedule meant most of the effects shots were captured in one take. Gross oversaw both the creation of Boss Film Studios, and the hiring of many conceptual designers including comic book artists Tanino Liberatore (whose work went unused) and Bernie Wrightson (who helped conceive several ghost designs), and story boarder Thom Enriquez, whose designs contributed to the "Onion Head ghost".
Creature Effects:
Edlund's previous work on the supernatural horror film Poltergeist (1982) served as a reference for the ghost designs in Ghostbusters. Gross said it was difficult to balance making the ghosts a genuine threat while fitting the film's more comedic tone. Special effects artist Steve Johnson sculpted the gluttonous, slimy, green ghost then known as the "Onion Head ghost" on set due to the puppet's unpleasant smell. The creature was given the name "Slimer" in the 1986 animated television series The Real Ghostbusters. The Slimer design took six months and cost approximately $300,000. After struggling to complete a design due to executive interference, Johnson took at least three grams of cocaine and completed the final design in one night, based in part on Aykroyd's and Ramis's wish for the creature to homage Belushi. The full-size foam rubber puppet was worn by Mark Wilson and filmed against a black background. Puppeteers manipulated the model's movements with cables.
Aykroyd tasked his friend, referred to as the Viking, with designing the Marshmallow Man, asking for a combination of the Michelin Man and the Pillsbury Doughboy in a sailor hat. The Marshmallow Man outfit was built and portrayed by actor and special effects artist Bill Bryan, who modelled his walk on Godzilla. There were eighteen foam suits, each costing between $25,000 and $30,000; seventeen of them, worn by stuntman Tommy Cesar, were burned as part of filming. Bryan used a separate air supply due to the foam's toxicity. There were three different heads for the suit, built from foam and fiberglass, with different expressions and movements controlled by cable mechanisms. The costume was filmed against scale models to finish the effect. The effects team was able to find only one model of a police car at the correct scale and bought several, modifying them to represent different vehicles. The water from a burst hydrant hit by a remote-controlled car was actually sand as the water did not scale down. The "marshmallow" raining down on the crowd after it is destroyed was shaving cream. After seeing the intended 150 pounds (68 kg) of shaving cream to be used, Atherton insisted on testing it. The weight knocked a stuntman down, and they ended up using only 75 pounds (34 kg). The cream acted as a skin irritant after hours of filming, giving some of the cast rashes.
Johnson also sculpted the Zombie Cab Driver puppet. It was the only puppet shot on location in New York City. Johnson based it on a reanimated corpse puppet he had made for An American Werewolf in London (1981). Johnson and Wilson collaborated on the Library Ghost, creating a puppet operated by up to 20 cables running through the torso that controlled aspects such as moving the head, arms, and pulling rubber skin away from the torso to transform it from a humanoid into a monstrous ghoul. The original Library Ghost puppet was considered too scary for younger audiences and was repurposed for use in Fright Night (1985). The library catalogue scene was accomplished live in three takes, with the crew blowing air through copper pipes to force the cards into the air. These had to be collected and reassembled for each take. Reitman used a multi-camera setup to focus on the librarian and the cards flying around her and a wider overall shot. The floating books were hung on strings.
Randy Cook was responsible for creating the quarter-scale stop-motion puppets of Gozer's minions Zuul and Vinz, the Terror Dogs, when in motion. The model was heavy and unwieldy, and it took nearly thirty hours to film it moving across a 30-foot (9.1 m) stage for the scene where it pursues Louis Tully across a street. For the scene where Dana is pinned to her chair by demonic hands before a doorway beaming with light, Reitman said he was influenced by Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). A rubber door was used to allow distortion as if something was trying to come through it, while grips concealed in a trapdoor beneath the chair, burst through it while wearing demonic dog-leg gloves. Made before the advent of Computer-generated imagery (CGI), any non-puppet ghosts had to be animated. It took up to three weeks to create one second of footage. For Gozer, Slavitza Jovan wore red contact lenses that caused her a great deal of pain, and she wore a harness to move around the set.
Technology/Equipment:
Hardware consultant Stephen Dane was responsible for designing most of the Ghostbusters' iconic equipment, including the "proton packs" used to wrangle ghosts, ghost traps, and their vehicle, the Ectomobile. The equipment had to be designed and built in the six weeks before filming began in September 1983. Inspired by a military issue flamethrower, the "proton packs" consisted of a handheld proton stream firing "neutrino wand" connected by a hose to a backpack said to contain a nuclear accelerator. Dane said he "went home and got foam pieces and just threw a bunch of stuff together to get the look. It was highly machined but it had to look off-the-shelf and military surplus".
Following Reitman's tweaks to the design, on-screen models of the "proton packs" were made from a fiberglass shell with an aluminium backplate bolted to a United States Army backpack frame. Each pack weighed approximately 30 pounds (14 kg) with the batteries for lighting installed, and strained the actors' backs during the long shoots. Two lighter versions were made; a hollow one with surface details for wide shots, and a foam rubber version for action scenes. The fiberglass props were created by special effects supervisor Chuck Gaspar, based on Dane's design. Gaspar used rubber molds to create identical fiberglass shells. The "neutrino wand" had a flashbulb at the tip, giving animators an origin point for the proton streams. Fake walls laced with pyrotechnics were used to practically create the damage of the proton streams. The "Psychokinetic Energy meter ("PKE meter) prop was built using an Iona SP-1 handheld shoe polisher as a base, to which lights and electronics were affixed. The technology was designed to not be overly fancy or sleek, emphasizing the characters' scientific backgrounds combined with the homemade nature of their equipment.
The Ectomobile was in the first draft of Aykroyd's script, and he and John Daveikis developed some early concepts for the car. Dane developed fully detailed drawings for the interior and exterior and supervised the transformation of the 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor ambulance conversion into the Ectomobile According to Aykroyd, the actual vehicle was "an ambulance that we converted to a hearse and then converted to an ambulance". Early concepts featured a black car with purple and white strobe lights giving it a supernatural glow, but this idea was scrapped after cinematographer László Kovács noted that dark paint would not film well at night. The concept also had fantastic features such as the ability to dematerialize and travel inter-dimensionally. Two vehicles were purchased, one for the pre-modification scenes. Dane designed its high-tech roof array with objects including a directional antenna, an air-conditioning unit, storage boxes and a rodomel. Because of its size, the roof rack was shipped to Manhattan on an airplane, while the car was transported to the East Coast by train. Sound designer Richard Beggs created the siren from a recording of a leopard snarl, cut and played backward.
Logo/Sets:
In the script, Aykroyd described the Ghostbusters clothing and vehicle as bearing a no symbol with a ghost trapped in it, crediting the Viking with the original concept. The final design fell to Gross, who had volunteered to serve as art director. As the logo would be required for props and sets, it needed to be finalized quickly, and Gross worked with Boss Film artist and creature design consultant Brent Boates who drew the final concept, and R/GA animated the logo for the film's opening. According to Gross, two versions of the logo exist, with one having "ghostbusters" written across the diagonal part of the sign. Gross did not like how it looked and flipped the diagonal bar to read top left to bottom right instead, but they later removed the wording. According to Gross, this is the correct version of the sign that was used throughout Europe. The bottom left to top right version was used in the United States as that was the design of the No symbol there.
Medjuck also hired John DeCuir as production designer. The script did not specify where Gozer would appear, and DeCuir painted the top of Dana's building with large, crystal doors that opened as written in the script. The fictional rooftop of 55 Central Park West was constructed at Stage 12 on the Burbank Studios lot. It was one of the largest constructed sets in film history and was surrounded by a 360-degree cyclorama painting. The lighting used throughout the painting consumed so much power that the rest of the studio had to be shut down, and an additional four generators added, when it was in use. Small models such as planes were hung on string to animate the backdrop. The set was built three stories off the ground to allow for filming from low angles.
The first three floors and street-front of Dana's building were recreated as sets for filming, including the climactic earthquake scene where hydraulics were used to raise broken parts of the street. Broken pieces of pavement and the road were positioned outside the real location to create a seamless transition between the two shots. DeCuir said: "They had one night to dress the street. When people went home early in the evening everything was normal, and when the little old ladies came out to walk their dogs in the morning, the whole street had erupted. Apparently, people complained to the New York Police Department and their switchboard lit up". For the scene where Dana's apartment explodes outwards, Weaver stood on set as the stunt happened. Similarly, the scene of Weaver rotating in the air was performed on set using a body-cast and mechanical arm concealed in the curtains, a trick Reitman learned working with magician Doug Henning.
Release/Reception/Box Office:
Ghostbusters was screened for test audiences on February 3, 1984, with unfinished effects shots to determine if the comedy worked. Reitman was still concerned audiences would not react well to the Marshmallow Man because of its deviation from the realism of the rest of the film. Reitman recalled that approximately 200 people were recruited off the streets to view the film in a theatre on the Burbank lot. It was during the opening library scene Reitman knew the film worked. Audiences reacted with fear, laughs, and applause as the Librarian Ghost transformed into a monster. The fateful Marshmallow scene was met with a similar reaction, and Reitman knew he would not have to perform any re-shoots. The screening for fellow industry members fared less well. Price recalled laughing as the rest of the audience sat deadpan; he rationalized an industry audience wants failure. Murray and Aykroyd's agent Michael Ovitz recalled an executive telling him, "Don't worry: we all make mistakes", while Roberto Goizueta, chairman of Columbia's parent, The Coca-Cola Company, said: "Gee, we're going to lose our shirts".
In the months before its debut, a teaser trailer focused on the "No ghosts" logo, helping the icon to become recognizable far in advance, and generating interest in the film without mentioning its title or its stars. A separate theatrical trailer for the film contained a functional toll-free telephone number with a message by Murray and Aykroyd waiting for the 1,000 callers per hour it received over a six-week period. They also appeared in a video for ShoWest, a theatre-owner convention, to promote the film. Columbia spent approximately $10 million on marketing, including $2.25 million on prints, $1 million on promotional materials, and $7 million on advertising and miscellaneous costs including a $150,000 premiere for a hospital and the hotel costs for the press. Including the budget and marketing costs, it was estimated the film would have to make at least $80 million to turn a profit.
Ghostbusters opened to generally positive reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, citing it as a rare example of successfully combining a special effects-driven blockbuster with "sly" dialogue. Ebert noted the effects existed to serve the actors' performances and not the reverse, saying it is "an exception to the general rule that big special effects can wreck a comedy". He also cited Ghostbusters as a rare mainstream film with many quotable lines. Writing for Newsday, Joseph Gelmis described the Ghostbusters as an adolescent fantasy, comparing their firehouse base to the Batcave with a fireman's pole and an Ectomobile on the ground floor.
Deseret News' Christopher Hicks praised Reitman's improved directing skills, and the crew for avoiding the vulgarity found in their previous films, Caddyshack and Stripes. He felt they reached for more creative humour and genuine thrills instead. He complained about the finale, claiming it lost its sense of fun and was "overblown", but found the film compensated for this since it "has ghosts like you've never seen". Janet Maslin agreed that the apocalyptic finale was out of hand, saying Ghostbusters worked best during the smaller ghost-catching scenes. Dave Kehr wrote that Reitman is adept at improvisational comedy, but lost control of the film as the special effects gradually escalated.
Arthur Knight appreciated the relaxed style of comedy saying while the plot is "primitive", it has "far more style and finesse" than would be expected of the creative team behind Meatballs and Animal House. He singled out editors Sheldon Kahn and David Blewitt for creating a sustained pace of comedy and action. Despite "bathroom humour and tacky sight gags", Peter Travers described Ghostbusters favourably as "irresistible nonsense", comparing the film to the supernatural horror film The Exorcist, but with the comedy duo Abbott and Costello starring. Time's Richard Schickel described the special effects as somewhat "tacky" but believed this was a deliberate commentary on other ghost films. Ultimately he believed praise was due to all involved for "thinking on a grandly comic scale". Newsweek's David Ansen enjoyed the film, describing it as a teamwork project where everyone works "toward the same goal of relaxed insanity"; he called the film "wonderful summer nonsense". Variety's review described it as a "lavishly produced" film that is only periodically impressive.
Reviewers were consistent in their praise for Murray's performance. Gene Siskel wrote that Murray's comedic sensibilities compensated for the "boring special effects". Variety singled out Murray for his "endearing" physical comedy and ad-libbing. Hicks similarly praised Murray, saying he "has never been better than he is here". Schickel considered Murray's character a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to develop fully his patented comic character". Gelmis appreciated Murray's dismissal of the serious situations to keep them comedic.
The interactions between Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis, were also generally well-received. Schickel praised Aykroyd and Ramis for their "grace" in allowing Murray to outshine them. Travers and Gelmis said the three main actors worked well as a collaborative force, and Hicks described Murray, Ramis, and Aykroyd as wanting "to be like the Marx Brothers of the 80s". Conversely, Kehr believed the pair were "curiously underutilized", but appreciated Murray's deadpan line readings. The New Yorker's Pauline Kael had problems with the chemistry among the three leads. She praised Murray, but felt other actors did not have much material to contribute to the story; she concluded, "Murray's lines fall on dead air". Maslin believed Murray's talents were in service to a film lacking wit or coherence. She noted that many of the characters had little to do, leaving their stories unresolved as the plot began to give way to servicing the special effects instead. However, she did praise Weaver's performance as an "excellent foil" for Murray. Variety described it as a mistake to cast top comedians but often have them working alone. Siskel enjoyed the characters interacting with each other, but was critical of Hudson's late addition to the plot and his lack of development, believing it made "him appear as only a token box office lure".
The premiere of Ghostbusters took place on June 7, 1984, at the Avco Cinema in Westwood, California, before its wide release the following day across 1,339 theatres in the United States (U.S.) and Canada. During its opening weekend in the U.S. and Canada, the film earned $13.6 million—an average of $10,040 per theatre.[d] It finished as the number one film of the weekend, ahead of premiering horror-comedy Gremlins ($12.5 million), and the adventure film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ($12 million), in its third week of release. The gross increased to $23.1 million during its first week, becoming the first major success for the studio since Tootsie (1982). The film remained number one for seven consecutive weeks, grossing $146.5 million, before being ousted by Purple Rain in early August.
The film regained the number one spot the following week before spending the next five weeks at number two, behind action film Red Dawn and then the thriller Tightrope. Ghostbusters remained among the top-three grossing films for sixteen straight weeks before beginning a gradual decline and falling from the top-ten by late October. It left cinemas in early January 1985, after thirty weeks. Ghostbusters had quickly become a hit, surpassing Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as the top-grossing film of the summer, and earning $229.2 million, making it the second highest-grossing film of 1984, approximately $5 million behind Eddie Murphy's action-comedy Beverly Hills Cop ($234.8 million) which released in mid-December. Ghostbusters surpassed Animal House as the highest-grossing comedy film ever, until Beverly Hills Cop surpassed it six months later.
Columbia had negotiated 50% of the box-office revenues or 90% of gross after expenses, depending on whichever was higher. Since the latter was the case, the studio received a 73% share of the box office profit, an estimated $128 million. The main cast members each received percentages of the gross profits or net participation of the film. A 1987 report estimated Murray alone had earned between $20–30 million from his share. Detailed box office figures are not available for territories outside the U.S. and Canada, but it is estimated to have earned $53 million, bringing Ghostbusters' worldwide total to $282.2 million. That year saw the release of several films that would later be considered iconic of the era, including: Gremlins, The Karate Kid, The Terminator, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Romancing the Stone, and The NeverEnding Story. It was also the first year in box office history four films, including Ghostbusters, grossed over $100 million.
Ghostbusters was re-released in the U.S. and Canada in August 1985, earning a further $9.4 million over five weeks, raising the film's theatrical gross to $238.6 million, surpassing Beverly Hills Cop to become the most successful comedy of the 1980s. A restored and remastered version of the film was released in August 2014, at 700 theatres across the U.S. and Canada to celebrate its 30th anniversary. It earned an additional $3.5 million, bringing the theatrical total to $242.2 million. The film has also received limited rereleases for special events and anniversaries. Combined with available figures for territories outside of the U.S. and Canada, the film has earned an estimated $295.2 million worldwide. In 1999, domestically it was still among the top 20 highest grossing movies of all time.
My Review:
"If there's something strange In your neighbourhood Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!" Where do I even start... I love 1970-80’s films. I respect them a lot since they’re classics. Ghostbusters 1984 is no exception, it just hits the target every single time with its effects, performances and CGI. It’s a timeless treasure and is that for reasons. Its effects while they’re outdated are perfect because that makes ghostbusters more of a creepy film. Which makes the film so much more fun to watch since that’s what ghostbusters really is. Bill Murray...He was Flippin’ Hilarious. Everything he does in a ghostbusters film is totally bonkers. The main theme when you hear it playing totally puts a smile on your face since you know that the ghostbusters are here ready to catch some ghosts and save New York from its mystery Sightings. The Stay Puft Marshmallow man scene was iconic. I’m not the type of person who likes big monster movies (Like Godzilla) but I Have to give some major praise here. It looked very Realistic and It’s imaginative. It feels iconic to see it every time. The performances was Spectacular and the direction was amazing towards this film, it’s nostalgic and timeless. And finally, Some of the CGI Portrayed very nicely especially with the ghosts. I have no complaints with this film whatsoever. It currently sits in my Top 30 Favourite Films Of All Time. Trivia, this is a timeless treasure that should be shown to everyone as well as the kids. This is without a doubt the correct called movie that was shown to theatres back in the day. With another great sequel that it got.
One the best comedy films ever, it still holds up almost 40 years later. The special effects look a little dated but that just makes the ghosts look that much scarier if you ask me! The on screen chemistry between all the characters is clear from the get go, gags and puns are still funny and don't feel dated and even the 80's music fits well with the whole film (which isn't always the case with 80s films!). Favourite scene has to be the ghost in the library which is very near the start, it sets the film up perfectly with the right amount of balance between scares and humour... And of course the giant Marshmallow Man but everybody says that! I always laugh at Bill Murray's line "yes it's true, that man has no dick" - delivered so dry.
In conclusion, I highly recommend this movie if you haven't watched it already - let's face it you probably have - 8/10.
{That and the theme song is just iconic}
Btw: Don’t watch Ghostbusters 2016, 1984 and its sequel are better {I'll be honest Ghostbusters 2016 isn't as bad as I thought it would be, I only watched it for dumb Chris Hemsworth - he's the best character}{That and I don't actually mind Fall Out Boy's rendition of the theme; it's never gonna be as good as Ray Parker Jr like, but it's not that bad}.
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