Where to watch Ghostbusters (1984)
It can also be rented or bought from AppleTV and Amazon.
After losing their university jobs, three parapsychologists launch a ghost-catching business in New York City. As supernatural activity grows, the unlikely team faces a dangerous force threatening the city, while balancing strange cases, skeptical officials, and the challenges of building a new business.
Cast: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, William Atherton, Ernie Hudson, David Margulies, Steven Tash, Jennifer Runyon, Slavitza Jovan
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Trivia & production notes
- Dan Aykroyd's script was inspired by a 1981 article on quantum physics and parapsychology that gave him the idea of trapping ghosts as a comedic concept.
- John Belushi was originally intended to star alongside Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy before his accidental death in March 1982, leading Aykroyd to recruit Bill Murray instead.
- Ivan Reitman convinced Aykroyd to set the entire story on Earth rather than in space, arguing that grounding the extraordinary elements in reality would make them funnier and the Marshmallow Man more believable.
- Aykroyd's original script was a 70 to 80-page treatment with a serious, scary tone that would have cost around $200 million due to intergalactic ghostbusters and multiple groups of characters.
- Reitman invented the $25-30 million budget figure he pitched to Columbia Pictures by tripling the budget of Stripes, admitting later he simply pulled a number that seemed reasonable.
- Universal Studios owned the rights to the title "Ghostbusters" from a 1970s children's show, so Columbia paid $500,000 plus 1% of profits to use the name, though Hollywood accounting practices ensured Universal never received the profit share.
- Aykroyd, Ramis, and Reitman sequestered themselves in Aykroyd's basement on Martha's Vineyard for two weeks to rework the script, with Aykroyd providing the funny situations and paranormal jargon while Ramis refined the jokes and dialogue.
- Bill Murray offered almost no input on the script when he joined the project, relying on Harold Ramis's knowledge of how to write for his comedic style.
- Filming in New York was considered risky in the early 1980s when the city was widely viewed as economically troubled and dangerous, leading many to question Reitman's choice to shoot there instead of Los Angeles.
- During filming at 55 Central Park West, city officials shut down adjacent streets during rush hour for the climactic scene, causing traffic backups visible all the way to Brooklyn, and when confronted by residents, producer Joe Medjuck blamed Francis Ford Coppola and The Cotton Club.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article Ghostbusters, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.
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