Ghostbusters And Sony
First up on this Strategy Session, let’s address some elephants in the room.
Ghostbusters 2016 was no good. It relied too heavily on improvisation and was poorly directed. It played out more like a parody or spoof. An SNL skit of Ghostbusters rather than a true Ghostbusters movie. That film had more Disaster Movie then it had spirit.
Did I like Ghostbusters [1984]? Yes.
Did I like Ghostbusters 2? Yes.
Do I think Ghostbusters 2 is a good movie or as good as 1984? Not specifically, no.
Did I like Ghostbusters 2016? Hell No.
Do I hate women? Hell No.
Do I hate minority groups? Hell No.
Did I vote for Donald Trump in 2016? Hell No.
I tend to vote for the Libertarians or almost any other 3rd party if there isn’t a Libertarian candidate by the way. Both parties currently in power are terrible and should be dissolved.
But I digress.
Relatively recently I saw an article titled something to the effect of ‘Can we all just admit that Ghostbusters 1984 wasn’t that great of a movie?’
No. We most certainly can not.
Ghostbusters was a well-made, funny, also potentially scary movie. Making a bad remake does not somehow retroactively make the original a bad film.
And liking the 2016 remake does not somehow make the original a bad film either.
Disliking the remake does not make me prejudiced against various peoples or groups other than BIG Hollywood itself. Those Hollywood studios and creators that can’t help but sniff each other’s butts while patting themselves on the back.
Yeah, those people are idiots. I DO have a problem with them.
Playing a part, writing a script, directing a film… none of that makes you an expert at science, politics, religion, or anything else. Hell, half the time it doesn’t even make you an expert at Hollywooding.
But again, I digress.
The problems with 2016 were basic. People that liked it may just like modern day SNL and bad spoof movies. Nothing wrong with that.
Different strokes for different folks. We all have our likes, dislikes, specific tastes, and guilty pleasures.
That film, however, told the same basic story as 1984. It hit the same beats and had similar characters. Yet it came up short consistently. And for me, that was enough to turn me off the film.
From what I recall, there are several good jokes that are basically killed because the cast won’t stop for a moment and take the story more seriously. The pacing is all over the place and the delivery is too flat.
The effects were pretty good, but a bit too cartoony. In the original – and this is something Ghostbusters 2 missed as well – most of the ghosts were designed to be scary. The film itself was designed to be a scary movie with comedy sprinkled into it.
The remake did the exact opposite. They TRIED to be a silly comedy and then sprinkled the scary elements into it.
The result is that all the cast are trying to be the focal comedian and none of them are playing any of the scenes in a serious manner. I never once thought ‘oh they’re in trouble’ or ‘wow, that’s powerful and clearly dangerous.’
And… well…
Mike Hat.
“Does it make it more or less disgusting if I tell you it came from the front?”
Wontons.
Yeah. It’s a crappy movie.
Let’s not play the ‘if you don’t like it you’re a…’ game here. That’s a bad hill to die on. If you don’t like it because it’s a bad film, then you’re just someone that didn’t like it because it was a bad film.
And make no mistake, it WAS a BAD FILM.
I don’t want to go into more detail on what was bad about the film. This isn’t a review of said film.
The purpose of a Story Strategy session is for me to explain what I think I would do.
You see, Ghostbusters: Afterlife has now dropped its first trailer.
It looks promising. But Monster Squad / Stranger Things with Paul Rudd isn’t quite the direction I would have had in mind.
That’s okay. What I’ve seen so far, and the tone it seems to be striking is right. If the rest of the film can carry that, this could be a fun third film.
But today I want to fill you in on what I always thought a third film could be.
Keep in mind, I considered the original, the developments, the Ghostbusters in Hell concepts, etc. And I picked and chose what I wanted.
I even took the 2016 variant into consideration and how it could have been done.
So, this is a basic rough draft of the story that I thought “could be a billion-dollar idea.”
Ghostbusters 3 – Think of a catchy sub-title later.
The original Ghostbusters wasn’t planned to be the story we finally received. Originally, it was a buddy comedy built around Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi.
In that story, the two mains worked in a futuristic setting for a big corporation that specialized in defeating ghosts, monsters, and other paranormal threats.
Then, in the actual film, Peter Venkman mentions franchise rights for the Ghostbusters while trying to convince Ray to go into business for themselves.
The Ghostbusters defeated Gozer the Gozerian and blew the top off an apartment building. They fought a giant marshmallow man and defeated it in front of hundreds if not thousands of onlookers.
In the sequel, they faced a “judicial restrangement order” – thank you Mr Tully – due to the costs of their previous escapades and of the containment unit explosion caused by Walter Peck and his Venkman issues.
That order was lifted and they went back to work ultimately facing and defeating Vigo the Carpathian with a slime powered Statue of Liberty and the power of Love.
In the video game, they basically faced the same or similar threats while hiring a new guy.
I could see a similar court order after the second movie due to the damages caused by the Statue of Liberty, but the whole shell around the Museum thing and mobilized national guard would probably diminish that likelihood. Especially if they hired a more specialized attorney.
So, now it’s thirty-ish years later.
If there were still ghosts to be busted, then business would have probably continued to expand.
Given the increase before Gozer and the increase before Vigo, I would suspect that the encounters would probably continue to grow and spread.
Maybe they did well enough in New York that the ghost threat died down there but grew elsewhere.
I think the movie could start with our new team before they are the new team. I think they may hail from a similar background, that of not-so-respected scientists from the local university in a paranormal studies department that popped up as a fad when the Ghostbusters where in their prime.
The university would have faced proof of paranormal sciences and could research what the Ghostbusters did and how. The paranormal department would have – for a time – benefited the school.
But as sightings diminished in New York and other branches began popping up in other cities, the glitter of the fad would begin to wear off.
As many have pointed out, they’re basically exterminators – pest control for hauntings.
Now, I think the university is probably ready to let that department go to make room for something new and flashy. Maybe an expansion of the engineering program.
A specialized new program could cover some of the info about the Ghostbuster’s science – specifically the tech – while also covering modern innovations such as smart cars, neural networks & machine learning, and private sector advancements in space travel.
Simply put, the idea of a paranormal department just isn’t that exciting any more.
Imagine Columbia University with a pest control department. Would you expect graduates with PHD’s in Orkinomics?
Our new team is probably a couple of professors, one committed student, and probably a friend or two of the student that joined the program because they heard it was easy.
The cast could be any makeup the filmmakers wanted.
I think, with the professors basically out of work and the students no longer able to pursue the education they wanted, our new band would find the need to explore their options.
The professors probably apply with the Ghostbusters, even interviewing with Janine. The students may have followed suit and applied for an apprenticeship or they may have started looking at other schools or programs.
Peter and Ray are out west- say Seattle – setting up a new branch. The baby Oscar is now a grown man and working for the company. He’s got some experience under his belt and will be the new team lead there.
This allows the Ghost Corps idea – which Sony announced ages ago – to start building in a more effective manner. Literally, other teams in other cities facing other threats.
Egon – with the passing of Harold Ramis – is never scene in the movie.
However, he is referenced as having been lost in an experiment with a spectral event horizon. He pushed himself out of phase with reality. He’s still there in the fire house, but no one can see or hear him.
This event happened several years ago and no solution to bring him back has been found.
At one time, he could be seen at certain times of the day such as the witching hour and every so often partial formulas appeared on his white boards and computers. But even that has diminished to the point that the others aren’t sure he is still there.
Ghosts like Slimer can see and hear him, but Slimer can’t communicate that clearly.
For a few years after he first vanished, they tried to bring him back but had no success. Losing the ability to see or even detect him has basically convinced them that he is gone for good.
Some newer employee – the rookie I suppose – and Winston are visiting a different branch. The new guy is probably a natural leader and is serving as something of a manager / director. In the game, he went to start a Chicago division… I’d say he succeeded.
I think there’s a good opportunity with this to show a little respect to the fan groups out there. Some of them are elaborate and skilled like the Arizona group or Phoenix group or the Iowa group.
Hell, here’s a listing. There’s even an NYC and Buffalo group.
And some of these folks do good charity work too.
It would be good to get some of these folks to fill the role of extras as additional branches / employees in their own home cities or regions.
When a fan group can provide their own cinema quality props and even their own variant of an ecto 1, they would be good to give walk on roles to.
If you use the NYC or other groups in that region then frankly you could just make them too busy. Sightings are increasing after all.
Lewis Tully – given Rick Moranis might not be willing to come back – could be auditing yet another branch and thus not be around.
Basically, Janine is at the Firehouse alone with Slimer.
It’s during this time that there is a sudden spike in paranormal activity in the New York region. That could be in New York, but it could also be in New Jersey and other neighboring states.
This burst in activity is probably nationwide and might even be worldwide, but there aren’t any or aren’t enough Ghostbusters at the New York branch to deal with that region.
Jenine could try to do some of the work herself, but find that there are simply too many calls. Thus, she would have reason to hire our professors and the new intern(s).
There would even be reason enough to hire the intern(s) full time.
They’d be sent to different locations and left to work on new tech for themselves with the backing of the main Ghostbusters business.
While all of this is happening, the other branches would also be facing increased activity. We could see how they handle their respective cities.
It’s during this time that we would deal with Bill Murray. I’ve heard that he has said he would like to have Venkman die off so he could do voice work as a ghost. So let’s do that.
I see a rough session fighting a group of ghosts and a successful win.
I see the Seattle branch celebrating and Peter and Ray would be joining in on the fun.
Maybe some less then healthy food and drink. I think we can establish that Peter has been living that same way for some time.
In point of fact, I think he and Dana have been together for all this time and she’s probably been after him to eat better and so forth.
Dana of course has pursued her own interests in New York. She’s probably running some form of art gallery with some specialized exhibits. She’s in New York expecting Peter to return and probably made a call to Peter and Oscar during the earlier part of the movie.
She may even have a bit of an intuitive sense that something is going to happen to Peter.
I’d say, in a moment after all the chaos and such is over – when the group is relaxed and celebrating – he passes from a coronary attack. Not killed by a scare or by a battle with some evil spirit, but by poor lifestyle choices.
Oscar and Ray must tell Dana and funeral plans need to be made.
But given the years of exposure to the paranormal and the firehouse being such a big part of Peter’s life at this point, his ghost finds himself in the firehouse. I can imagine some interesting interactions with Slimer and the conversation between Peter and Janine.
Naturally, they’d tell Ray, Oscar, and Dana.
I imagine Dana visiting the firehouse to see for herself.
“Well… you were right.”
This allows for the old team to meet the new team and gives a reason to recall Winston, the new guy, and Louis. Again, Louis might not be able to make it back in time if Rick Moranis didn’t want to return to the role.
Peter’s ghost could be designed as a cross between Bill Murray and the old animated series design. Just a little off. Not quite his old self.
This solution gives Murray a chance to play the role through voice acting the ghost and could add some emotion to the script.
“Hey. You know, I am gunna haunt you.”
It also presents another matter.
The new team continues to work and now gets to know the old team better.
Peter gets to see his own funeral.
That sort of thing.
But the incidents are still growing. Something big is on the horizon and they aren’t sure what to make of it. They seem to be able to narrow it down to an epicenter in some specific region with an occult or paranormal history. There’s plenty of that everywhere, so we could just pick something or make something new up.
Either way, the Ghostbusters are facing something big and unsure where to look or what it is.
But Peter’s a ghost now. I see Slimer desperately trying to get Peter down to Egon’s old lab. When he finally chases the ghost into the lab, he finds Egon – still not visible to anyone but him.
Give Mr Murray a challenge to play his role against someone that only he can see.
Peter can then speak for Egon and relay his messages to the others.
He’s basically given up on bringing himself back. He feels it’s gone on too long and the effects of his experiment are probably permanent.
Instead, he has turned his attention to studying the ghosts that can see and hear him and to researching this increase in activity. His data is pointing to something big and he’s pin-pointed the epicenter.
With this knowledge Ray and the two professors can research the location, it’s history, paranormal reports, and so forth. We see the new guy making some calls in between other scenes just in the background.
Oscar, Winston, the students, and Ray will explore the area that is the epicenter and Peter will basically be a pest.
This Epicenter could be in New York, but most people will tell you that New York has been done. Picking somewhere else, maybe rural like they appear to be doing with Afterlife could be a fun change of pace.
I can also see using Chicago for some of the climax.
The team finally works out the threat’s source – an event horizon similar to the one Egon went through, but they’re too late.
The epicenter blows open and a wave on ghosts, undead, you name it floods out and begins moving toward a major city like Chicago.
We see the new guy make a call.
“I hate to say this because it’s really cliché but… who you gunna call?”
“Backup.”
It’s here that we see several fan groups and Oscar’s team all converging on a central rally point. This is a good chance to introduce characters for future movies if desired.
Ray and the new guy are going to be coordinating the groups from the rally point and working with city government.
Winston and the students are going to join the professors as they try to seal off the source of the threat and likely face the malevolent beings that are behind all of this. I’m thinking there’s at least two if not three.
Oscar and his team are going to back them up and try to stem the tide of spirits rushing out of the epicenter.
You can use your imagination for what Peter and Slimer would get up to while all of this is going on.
It’s a big event that probably sees Ray and the new guy join Oscar and his team as they move in to aid Winston and the new team.
Peter could even indicate that Egon is present and offering some vital piece of information. With combined efforts of basically 3 teams, the epicenter is sealed.
Yet even with that over, the rise in ghost sighting’s isn’t diminishing.
The various teams must return to their own regions and get to work.
At the end of the film we hit certain concluding points.
Peter is a ghost now.
Oscar and his team are the Seattle branch and can have their own adventures.
The professors and their students are now the New York region A-team.
And the original cast – Janine, Ray, Winston – as well as the rookie are now basically the bosses of a nation spanning Ghost Corps.
This allows the original cast to appear in future films and participate in the antics if the story permits or to remain at the firehouse if the actors don’t want to do the physical stuff.
The epicenter was sealed, but the ghost sightings continued to grow. This allows films with other teams and a series of films building up to a world spanning event in some future climactic “Ghost Corps” film.
Anyway. There you go.
That’s a Ghostbusters 3 idea I had along the way.
Enjoy.
