There’s something strange in the neighborhood, and with Gil Kenan’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire once again defrosting the fan-favorite funny frightener, it’s time to pick up the phone and call in Venkman, Stanz, Zeddemore and the legacy of Spengler. Following the misfire of 2016’s Ghostbusters and the reinvention of 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, we’re firing up the proton packs for the next generation of spook hunters.
Following its original run of Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, and the beloved The Real Ghostbusters cartoon, we once feared that Gozer the Destructor had “destroyed” our hopes of more outings. Thankfully, it seems that even 40 years later, bustin’ makes us feel good. With that in mind, here are 12 things you might not know about the Ghostbusters franchise.
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The original Peter Venkman
While it’s hard to imagine anyone other than the smart-talking Bill Murray as the leader of the Ghostbusters, the Groundhog Day star wasn’t always the first choice for Peter Venkman. Having worked together on Saturday Night Live and The Blues Brothers, Dan Aykroyd wanted John Belushi to play Venkman.
Speaking on Netflix’s The Movies That Made Us, Aykroyd confirmed he was typing a line for Belushi when he got the call about his death. A pre-Batman Michael Keaton was poised to play Venkman thanks to his sarcastic tone, however, when Murray expressed an interest, Keaton was promptly shown the door.
There’s still a nod to Belushi, with the Onion Head Ghost (later known as Slimer) being based on him. We’re not sure that’s a compliment, but Slimer is an icon of The Real Ghostbusters cartoon and one of the series’ most merchandisable assets, so Belushi’s legacy lives on.
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A ghostly cameo
We know Sony was once talking about an expanded Ghostbusters universe that would’ve united the female and male teams, but much like plans to bankroll a new era of Men in Black, the idea crumbled following the failure of Ghostbusters (2016). Still, we’ve seen the main gang break free from the confines of their own world before.
1995’s underrated Casper had nods to The Exorcist and Ghostbusters. During a scene where the villainous Carrigan Crittenden (Cathy Moriarty) is trying to banish the ghosts from Whipstaff Manor, a frightened-looking Aykroyd runs from the house in full Ghostbusters getup.
Sporting a mustache, Stantz says, “Who ya gonna call? Somebody else.” It’s only a bit of fun that bizarrely connects the worlds of Casper and Ghostbusters, but Ray never stood a chance — he broke the golden Ghostbusters rule of “never go solo.” Also, who could forget Bill Murray sporting a proton pack and playing himself in Ruben Fleischer’s Zombieland?
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Ghostbusters 3
Despite Ghostbusters II underperforming compared to the original, it was enough of a success to spark plans for a trilogy. Murray was particularly reluctant to return, which led to Aykroyd’s 1999 Ghostbusters III: Hellbent script that would’ve reduced him to a minor role and killed him off-screen.
Hellbent continued, with the script taking the original team to a nightmarish alternate world called ManHellton. Here, they crossed paths with the Devil — a smarmy businessman going under the guise of Luke Sifler (Lucifer). As with Afterlife, the original plan for Ghostbusters III was to sideline the old guard and introduce some new blood.
Way back when, Ramis suggested (via Aint It Cool News) that Chris Farley, Chris Rock, and Ben Stiller were considered for the next generation of Ghostbusters. Aykroyd’s third movie fell into development hell, although the original cast reprised their roles for 2009’s Ghostbusters video game, which many consider the ‘real’ Ghostbusters 3.
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Ghostbusters HQ
The Ghostbusters wouldn’t be who they are without their base of operations, and in real life, the Hook & Ladder Company 8 is a New York City landmark. After filming had wrapped, Hook & Ladder Company 8 kept half of the Ghostbusters II sign and would hang it outside on events like Halloween.
After the sign was permanently moved inside for preservation, an impressive 2021 GoFundMe campaign raised enough funds for a full-size replica. The funding was such a success it’s become an annual tradition held on Ghostbusters Day every year.
Hook & Ladder Company 8 is still an active firehouse, with its firefighters assisting in the September 11 rescue attempts. It’s poised to return in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
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Poor Winston
The Ghostbusters movies continue to sideline Ernie Hudson’s Winston Zeddemore as the often-forgotten fourth Ghostbuster. Even the Ghostbusters Minimates figures swap Winston out for Sigourney Weaver’s Dana.
Eddie Murphy was finding his fame on SNL and starred alongside Aykroyd in Trading Places, making him the original choice for Winston. On The Movies That Made Us, Aykroyd said, “I wrote it for Eddie Murphy. It was me, John Belushi, and Eddie Murphy. We were supposed to be the original Ghostbusters.”
Although Ivan Reitman denies that the role of Winston was specifically written for Murphy, it was greatly reduced from the original draft and remains something of a sticking point to this day. There are obvious accusations of racism, but in a 2014 interview with The Guardian, Hudson said, “If I go to the racial side of it and blame that, it takes all my power away, because if I blame racism there’s nothing I can learn from it.”
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A Stone’s throw
It’s fair to say that 2016’s Ghostbusters got a bit of a rough reception, once being the most-disliked movie trailer on YouTube — until The Marvels came along. Toxic fandom was a contributing factor in the movie’s failure, and we doubt much could’ve been done to change that.
Before things really got underway, Aykroyd had mentioned Eliza Dushku, Anna Faris, and Alyssa Milano as potential stars for a female-centric Ghostbusters movie. Murray added more into the mix during a 2014 interview with The Toronto Star and mentioned eventual stars Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig as well as Linda Cardellini and Emma Stone.
Murray nearly got his wish, and at one point, his Zombieland co-star of Stone was once up for a leading role. Seemingly suffering from franchise fatigue, Stone explained to The Wall Street Journal how she turned down the part because she’d recently wrapped up her time on The Amazing Spider-Man movies and didn’t want to commit to another (potential) multi-movie saga.
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The Huey Lewis situation
Ghostbusters has become just as iconic for its hit song of the same, even if Ray Parker Jr.’s lyrics of “bustin’ makes me feel good” continue to raise eyebrows. Released in 1984, “Ghostbusters” is Parker Jr.’s only hit song but arguably set him up for life.
“Ghostbusters” was a verified smash and even reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. This nearly wasn’t the case, as Huey Lewis tried to sue Parker Jr. amidst claims “Ghostbusters” was too similar to his 1983 song, “I Want A New Drug.” The lawsuit dragged on and was eventually settled in private.
Parker Jr. returned the favor in 2001 and sued Lewis for mentioning the Ghostbusters lawsuit in an episode of VH1’s Behind the Music. The final twist came from a 2004 interview with Premiere magazine. The filmmakers admitted to using “I Want A New Drug” as a background melody and giving Parker Jr. footage of this to help him write “Ghostbusters”.
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Remembering Ramis
The less said about Afterlife’s uncomfortable Harold Ramis cameo, the better. While Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker did what it could after Carrie Fisher’s tragic passing, many feel there was no need for Egon Spengler to appear in Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
Although some branded the last-minute cameo of a ghostly Spengler teaming up with his granddaughter a desecration of his memory, Jason Reitman confirmed that Ramis’ family agreed to it. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Reitman said, “I was never going to make this movie unless they were comfortable with the portrayal of Harold.”
For all its faults, 2016’s Ghostbusters paid a much more tasteful homage to the departed Ghostbuster. While Murray and co. had bizarre cameos as brand-new characters, there’s a bust of Ramis outside Erin’s university office near the start of the movie. After filming, Ramis’ wife donated the bust to Chicago’s Ramis Film School.
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A blast from the past
After Ghostbusters: Afterlife seemed to gloss over the events of Ghostbusters II and used the logo from the first movie on the Ecto-1 car, there were worries that the 1989 movie wasn’t counted as canon. Jason Reitman has assured us this isn’t the case and has even pointed to a potential future plotline.
In an interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Reitman nodded to Ghostbusters II’s villain, Vigo the Carpathian. Vigo was portrayed by German boxer and Die Hard star Wilhelm von Homburg while being voiced by Max von Sydow.
Reitman teased, “There is a lot of time and opportunity for Vigo The Carpathian to make his return. Look, are you saying that’s the only painting of Vigo The Carpathian? Maybe, he’s riding a horse in another one, maybe, impaling someone in another one.”
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The “real” Real Ghostbusters
The tagline of “Who you gonna call?” has become synonymous with the franchise, and way back when, you could actually call them. To promote the original movie, Ivan Reitman created an actual 1-800 number.
Buying up late-night airtime, Reitman superimposed the in-movie Ghostbusters ad with the new 1-800 number and encouraged fans to phone it. Those who dialed in were met with voicemail messages from Aykroyd and Murray.
We think Reitman was missing a trick by not having Annie Potts’ Janine Melnitz snapping, “Whaddya want?” Speaking of the Ghostbusters’ long-suffering secretary, it looks like Janine will finally get her time to shine in Frozen Empire, even getting her own Melnitz jumpsuit.
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A sticky situation
The addition of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man was a brilliant brainwave of Dan Aykroyd for the first Ghostbusters and was based on a security guard at Columbia Pictures while homaging real-life mascots of the Pillsbury Doughboy and Michelin Man.
Ghostbusters II somewhat lazily repeated the climax with the Statue of Liberty, while miniature versions of the sugary soldier appeared in Afterlife. The trailer for Frozen Empire shows they’re back again, but by this point, the joke is getting a little old. As for the OG, the original plan was to have the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man emerge from the clean and stand next to the Statue of Liberty before going on a Godzilla-inspired rampage.
In the days before CGI, the Stay Puft scene was scaled back. That didn’t stop the marshmallow monster from taking a massive bite of at least $60,000 out of the budget. As for the explosive finale, the crew raided their bathroom cabinets and created the melting mess out of shaving foam.
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Ghostsmashers
Is everyone ready for Ghostsmashers: Frozen Empire? Similar to how Wes Craven’s Scream was nearly called Scary Movie, it’s hard to imagine Ghostbusters with any other name. After production wrapped on 1984’s Ghostbusters, Ivan Reitman was almost forced to change the name to Ghostsmashers thanks to Universal Studios and a little-known live-action TV series called The Ghost Busters.
Universal’s lawyers threatened Columbia Pictures, and with whole scenes of the actors referring to themselves as Ghostbusters, as well as massive scenes of crowds chanting “Ghostbusters,” it was a major problem. Thankfully, Columbia’s Frank Price was moving to Universal to become its new Studio Head.
Although Price allowed Ghostbusters to stay, the fact that 1975’s The Ghost Busters also had an animated spin-off meant Ghostbusters’ beloved cartoon had to be called The Real Ghostbusters. We’re not sure whether smashin’ would’ve made us feel good, and perhaps in some alternate reality, we’re sitting down to Ghostsmashers: Frozen Empire.
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Based in Manchester, UK, Tom Chapman has over seven years’ experience covering everything from dragons to Demogorgons. Starting out with a stint at Movie Pilot in Berlin, Tom has since branched out to indulge his love of all things Star Wars and the MCU at Digital Spy, Den of Geek, IGN, Yahoo! and more. These days, you’ll find Tom channelling his inner Gale Weathers and ranting about how HBO did us dirty with Game of Thrones Season Eight.
