Trivia / Ghostbusters

The franchise as a whole:

• Completely Different Title: In the French localizations:
  • The whole franchise is known as S.O.S. Fantômes (S.O.S. Ghosts), which is also how the first film title in this localization (the second movie is known as S.O.S. Fantômes II) . In-story, the Ghostbusters firm is renamed "casseurs de fantômes" ("ghostbreakers").
  • Ghostbusters: Afterlife is known as S.O.S. Fantômes : L'Héritage (the subtitle translates as "The Legacy") in France and S.O.S. Fantômes : L'au-delà (literal translation of th original subtitle) in Quebec.
  • Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is known as S.O.S. Fantômes : La Menace de glace (the subtitle translates as "The Ice Threat") in France and SOS Fantômes : L'Empire de glace ("The Ice Empire", similar but distinct from the original subtitle) in Québec.
• Development Hell: That damned third movie. Rumors of it ever getting made started as early as the release of Ghostbusters II and only even ended because Harold Ramis died. While Dan Aykroyd had written a treatment, in which the team go to hell, Ramis's falling out with Bill Murray during the production of Groundhog Day stood in the way of physical production ever beginning. The two men wouldn't patch things up until just before Ramis passed away in 2014.
  • Ghostbusters: The Video Game was eventually made as a direct sequel to the original two films, even being set at the same time, with most of the cast returning.
  • A third Ghostbusters film was eventually released in 2016, but it rebooted the franchise with an all-new (and all-female) team of Ghostbusters who have no connection to the original films. This naturally proved controversial and divisive for many reasons, and an IDW comic book series published in 2017 further places the 2016 film in its own separate continuity from the earlier films.
  • Eventually, a proper third installment in the same continuity as the original films was announced in January 2019, in the thirtieth year after the last sequel, Ghostbusters II.
• Disabled Character, Disabled Actor: Downplayed, but autistic-coded Ray Stantz is played by autistic actor-writer Dan Aykroyd. Aykroyd has acknowledged his experiences with autism contributed to how he wrote Ray, as well as Egon Spengler, though neither character has a canonically-stated condition.
• Formats: The two original Ghostbusters movies were released on many formats:
  • VHS releases of the first two Ghostbusters films, from RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video.
  • Betamax releases of the first two Ghostbusters films, from RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video. The Betamax release of Ghostbusters II lazily uses a VHS box with Betamax stickers slapped on.
  • Two laserdisc releases of the original Ghostbusters film: the standard release of the film on a CLV laserdisc, as well as a special collector's edition on a CAV laserdisc that had more playback features. The laserdisc format had the highest quality available at the time, but this came at a tradeoff: you had to flip the disc around once the first half of the movie was over, unless you had a laserdisc player that could autoplay the other half of the disc. The special collector's edition of the Ghostbusters laserdisc was even worse about this: it came on two discs, and you had to flip both of them unless you had a laserdisc player that could autoplay the other half of the discs. Ghostbusters II also had a laserdisc release on a CLV laserdisc. These laserdisc releases were made by RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video.
  • A CED release of the first Ghostbusters film, from RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video.
  • Video 8 releases of the first two Ghostbusters films, from RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video.
  • A VHD release of the first Ghostbusters film, from RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video. Only released in Japan.
  • Video CD releases of the first two Ghostbusters films, from Columbia Tri Star Home Video. Exclusive to Asia.
  • DVD releases of the first two Ghostbusters films, from Columbia Tri Star Home Video.
  • Superbit DVD releases of the first two Ghostbusters films, from Columbia Tri Star Home Entertainment. Exclusive to Japan.
  • A UMD Video release of the first Ghostbusters film, for the PSP.
  • Blu-Ray releases of the first two Ghostbusters films, from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
  • 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray releases of the first two Ghostbusters films, from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
• The Character Died with Him: After the death of Harold Ramis in 2014, it was decided not to recast Egon in any form of Ghostbusters media.
• What Could Have Been: Harold Ramis' death in February 2014 was thought to be the final nail in the coffin for Ghostbusters III (though Egon's appearance in the film was supposedly going to be very brief anyway), and most likely contributed to the third film becoming a Continuity Reboot instead. That is, until Ghostbusters: Afterlife (a third film in the same continuity as the first two) was made and included a posthumous cameo by Egon.

The pinball machine:

• Role Reprise: Ernie Hudson reprises his role as Winston to provide some newly-recorded sound clips.
• What Could Have Been: As revealed on the Head2Head Pinball Podcast, "Are You a God?" was originally meant to be accessed by finishing every part of the game, but programmer Dwight Sullivan decided to instead use the idea for Jedi Multiball in Star Wars (Stern). Upon returning to Ghostbusters for its 2019 code update, he decided to streamline "We're Ready to Believe You" (which he had grown to dislike) and make it the sole prerequisite for the final mode.

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