This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of probably the greatest movie ever created
about four unintentional heroes who repelled ectoplasmic goo and dodged the crushing feet of a
rampaging one hundred foot tall marshmallow sailor, while saving all existence with unlicensed
particle accelerators strapped to their backs. And before you can finish saying, “are you referring
to that obscure and wholly forgettable Woody Allen film,” let me stop you there because the
movie I’m talking about can only be the 1984 comedic classic, Ghostbusters. Ask Egon about the
Twinkie…
It was in June of 1984 when Ghostbusters had opened in theaters and I think it’s safe to
say that the world was forever changed… I can’t remotely back that statement up but it was (and
still remains) a damn good flick. Written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, and directed by
Ivan Reitman, the film had received shining critical acclaim upon its release and achieved stellar
box office success, becoming the second highest grossing film of the year. It had subsequently
spawned an entire franchise including a sequel film, two television shows, multiple comic book
titles, and several video games, among which was the 2009 “Ghostbusters: The Video Game”.
GB:TVG was a thrilling adventure that reunited much of the main cast to voice their characters
and had served as a quasi-sequel for a dedicated fan base that was left wanting more. And while
rumors of a third film have been bandied about for years, the untimely death of cowriter and
costar Harold Ramis and the stepping down of director Ivan Reitman from the project have left
fans in a state of perpetual concern that they will never again witness another terrifying godlike
being crossing some temporal divide on a quest to eat our faces.
Yet even as the franchise’s future seems ruefully uncertain, the past is very definitely
coming back to haunt us as we hit this auspicious anniversary (see what I did there?). At the
beginning of June, Sony had announced that they would be rereleasing the film into seven hundred theaters across the country in celebration of the thirtieth anniversary. The film, which
will be restored and re-mastered in 4k, has been given a rerelease date of August 29th and will
remain in the theaters for one week only. For those who will not be within driving distance of
one of those seven hundred theaters, however, please take heart; along with the theatrical release
of the re-mastered Ghostbusters, Sony has also announced plans to release Ghostbusters 1 and 2,
both re-remastered, onto Bluray. The home media release is set for September 16th and along
with the re-mastered movies, the Blurays will include all new supplemental features to
complement the original bonus material. These enhanced films will be released individually, as a
two-movie set, or as a limited edition gift set that will include an exclusive figurine of
everybody’s favorite green blob, Slimer.
An exciting couple of months lie in store for Ghostbusters fans around the country. For
some, the theatrical rerelease will be the opportunity to experience the enormity of Mr. Stay Puft
on the big screen for their very first time. For others, it will be the opportunity to take a trip down
memory lane, only this time with vividly enhanced image quality. But whether you’ll be catching
it in theaters for the first time or for the one hundredth time, when you strap on your proton
packs and go out to bust some ghosts on the big screen, you need only remember one thing:
Don’t ever…
Under any circumstances…
Cross the streams…
(Unless you’re bored.)
No comments:
Post a Comment