Who You Gonna Call? Ghostbusters!

Adam Zanzie

On August 29, Sony Pictures will celebrate the 30th anniversary of one of the most beloved films of the 80’s, Ghostbusters. The original print of the classic sci-fi comedy has been restored and remastered in 4K HD andwill be screened at over 700 theaters across the country.

Released in 1984, Ghostbusters was an instant hit worldwide and remains a pop culture staple, thanks in part to a sequel, cartoons, video games, comics and, of course, an iconic theme song by Ray Parker, Jr. (Asking anyone “Who you gonna call?” will surely result in a resounding yell for “Ghostbusters!”) With a universal appeal to please fans of all ages, the Ghostbusters franchise has had a strong cultural impact — everything from the movie’s theme song, catchphrases, Ecto-1 vehicle and New York City firehouse locale are easily recognizable. Ghostbusters is also unique in that it works in the dual genre of comedy and sci-fi, a niche not popularized by many other films.

Writer/Actor Dan Aykroyd’s original vision of Ghostbusters was very different from what fans know of the film today — he intended for the Ghostbusters team to travel through space and time to battle huge monsters, but Director Ivan Reitman thought the concept would be too difficult to film. Aykroyd’s idea was finally realized in 2009 with Ghostbusters: The Video Game, which received high praise as a movie-based game that’s strong on plot, challenges and artistry. Aykroyd has such a genuine fascination with the paranormal that he may as well be playing himself in the original Ghostbusters. While he wanted the film to also star John Belushi, Eddie Murphy and John Candy, he was encouraged to ground the script in reality with Harold Ramis. When Belushi passed away and Candy had a film scheduling conflict, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson and Rick Moranis were brought on board. And the addition of Sigourney Weaver helped to cement her unofficial title as “The Queen of Sci-Fi.”

Throughout the years, most of the cast has stayed involved with various Ghostbuster projects. After the sad news of Ramis’s death after a long illness earlier this year, fans left a memorial of candles, Twinkies, Nestles Crunch bars and Cheez-It crackers at the Ghostbusters firehouse in New York. Though Moranis retired from acting in 1997, he’s open to doing a new Ghostbusters sequel if the script is of the same high caliber as the first two films. His co-star Murray seems to have a love/hate relationship with the franchise, as he’s been absent from the special features on DVD and Blu-ray releases. (There are even rumors of Murray shredding Ghostbuster 3 scripts and labeling them as trash on the Internet.) But Murray did lend his voice to the 2009 video game and re-create Ghostbusters scenes for the film Zombieland. Ghostbusters 3 and a Ghostbusters reboot have actually been in development hell for years, but Sony recently expressed an interest in having Bridesmaids Director Paul Feig helm a new Ghostbusters film with the possibility of an all-female Ghostbusters team. Will the Ghostbusters franchise live on? As Dr. Peter Venkman would say, “24 hours a day, 7 days a week! No job is too big, no fee is too big!”

Ghostbusters is coming to theaters nationwide on August 29.