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| The 4th Ghostbuster, played by Ernie Hudson, gets to be on the poster for Ivan Reitman's sequel Ghostbusters II here, - but still without a starring poster credit |
Five years after the events of the first Ghostbusters, the four guys have nothing to do anymore; New York is cleansed of evil spirits. But then a portrait of an old crook at the museum where Dana (Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters (1984))) works wakes to life, and he wants her child!
Ghostbusters II is written by co-writer/stars Dan Aykroyd (The Blues Brothers (1980)) and Harold Ramis (Analyze This (1999)) and directed by returning filmmaker Ivan Reitman (Foxy Lady (1971)).
Incredibly enough the sequel to the sensational 1984 original hit is as wacky as the first time around. It is predictably bigger in scale and still seems to have an anarchistic reckless attitude towards what was possible effects-wise at the time of production.
Ghostbusters II has some new, fun supporting actor performances, including Peter MacNicol (Tangled: The Series (2017-20)) in a very silly, spasmic performance as Dana's boss, who becomes a pawn of the evil Vigo. Bill Murray (The Lost City (2005)) continues to be a treasure here, and I love the revamped version of the beloved title song by Ray Parker Jr..
Related posts:
Ivan Reitman: Evolution (2001) - Reitman's sci-fi crazy-comedy is thoroughly entertaining
Ghostbusters (1984) - Reitman and Co. conjure up the gleeful pomp and circumstance of the 1980s
Watch a teaser for the movie here
Cost: Estimated 37 mil. $
Box office: 213.3 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 5.76 times its cost)
[Ghostbusters II premiered 15 June (Hollywood) and runs 108 minutes. The long gestation of the movie was mainly due to reluctance by the film's stars. Reitman, Murray, Ramis and Aykroyd negotiated "low" upfront salaries, (Murray though reportedly was paid 7 mil. $) in exchange for box office profit percentages, lower than 10 % each but reportedly still "high". Animated spin-off series The Real Ghostbusters (1984-91) had spun a large child fan base for the franchise, necessitating that the sequel be more family friendly, - less scary, without smoking etc.. Reitman hired ILM for the film's effects, as he had been unhappy with the effects done by Richard Edlund for the first film. Shooting took place from November 1988 - March 1989 in New York and California, including Los Angeles. New York City authorities were cooperative to the point of allowing shooting on Manhattan's Second Avenue while the Soviet Union's president Gorbachev was in town, which already closed down 40 blocks. Reshoots took place in March and April, including on location in New York, as its ending needed changing, while the premiere was pushed forward to avoid clashing with Batman (1989), making the finalization of the film highly stressful. The film opened #1 to a 29.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 4 weekends (#3-#4-#2-#4) and grossed 112.4 mil. $ (52.7 % of the total gross). The film made less than half of its original in North America but almost double of the first film's international gross and was the 8th highest-grossing film worldwide of the year. Murray's disappointment with the film made another sequel impossible for the coming decades. Following Ramis' death in 2014, Reitman sold his, Ramis, Murray and Aykroyd's creative control of the franchise to Sony for an undisclosed, large sum. Their 2016 female reboot Ghostbusters flopped. Reitman's son Jason Reitman directs a second direct sequel, Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2020). Reitman returned with Kindergarten Cop (1990). Murray returned in Quick Change (1990); Aykroyd in Michael Jackson's music video Liberian Girl (1989) and theatrically in Driving Miss Daisy (1989); and Weaver in Alien 3 (1992). Ghostbusters II is rotten at 53 % with a 5.32/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Ghostbusters II?
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