How would YOU have made a Ghostbusters reboot?

Ghostbusters Discussion Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016)
1

How would you have made a Ghostbusters reboot…or sequel? If you were in the director’s chair and had total authority to do whatever you want, how would you have done things differently?

  • I would’ve made the tone of the movie a bit darker and used humor as comedic relief. Ghostbusters has always been as much about horror as it is comedy.

  • Definitely NOT use an inordinate amount of CGI. I would have used as much practical effects as possible, like the original.

  • I would like to see a sort of museum featuring busted ghosts in transparent enclosures which the public can attend and observe.

  • I may have touched on the issue of “Spirit’s Rights” and how ethical it is to bust them.

  • I definitely would’ve shown what the containment unit looks like on the inside, as more of a portal to the spirit realm rather than a ghostly penitentiary.

  • Kept the original cast as supporting characters or mentors.

  • Had a team of both men and women and made it at least 5 members, possibly 6, one of whom is Kylie Griffin.

  • Mostly kept the same uniforms and equipment from the first two, but added a few updates like the video game did. I don’t even really see a need to change the Ecto-1 to a more modern vehicle. It’s charming the way it is.

  • Delved a bit more into the investigative side of the business. I love the mythical lore of Ghostbusters and figuring out the backstory of the villains.

  • Considering they are parapsychologists, I would’ve made this movie more of a psychological/supernatural thriller than a standard comedy. Humor shouldn’t be the main focus. It takes away from the suspense and comes across as trying too hard to get a cheap laugh.

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I think there are many, many ideas that have been floated here that would have made the new movie a success. I would have rathered a passing of the torch film as opposed to a full reboot. Maybe Egon has left his portion of the business assets to his niece, and she comes forward to claim it? Venkman hands the keys over (after scamming her out of 50k or whatever to buy him out) only to find the packs are in sad shape, the ecto 1 is broken down, etc.

One idea that appeared in a sequel script was of Venkman being a ghost, and I think BM could have done a lot with that - maybe he’s in denial or just refuses to cross over, or Egon developed some sort of gadget to keep Peter semi-present.

I think they should have absolutely filmed in NY, with 80s vintage cameras and equipment. I would have current artists create 80s style songs for the soundtrack, and the tone needs to be the dry, oddball humor of the original film .

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I like this Spectral Observatory/Museum idea. I’d make it one of the focal points of the story. As part of their agreement with the city of New York, the Ghostbusters are required to provide a certain number of spectres for display purposes in this facility, in order to maintain their license and stay in business. This project is spearheaded by a corrupt politician. Much the same way that animal right’s activists protest zoos, the Spectral Observatory (and the Ghostbusters by default) have become villainized in the eyes of humanitarians, though the GB’s themselves don’t necessarily support the incarceration of human spirits.

The security of the facility is compromised by either human or spiritual means and the ghosts are released into the city. At the culmination of the story, the moral dilemma is resolved when the Ghostbusters capture and release the spirits into their own plane of existence via the “containment unit” rather than being detained in the observatory; however, demonic entities which are pure evil and have no human origin are maintained in a separate holding facility in this realm.

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I really liked that “Ghostbusters Inc.” idea from that script that floated around claiming it was the real deal. The script needed some major changes, but I like how there are franchises all over because of the growing ghost problem. The original cast as supporting characters while introducing new faces, and A MIXED GENDER TEAM, NO GENDER/RACE WILL BE TREATED UNFAIRLY.

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Interesting thoughts.

I actually wouldn’t mind if the character of Egon passed away (in the movies, not other forms of media) and the Ghostbusters are forced to deal with his departure and the nature of their business, as far as the ethical side of Ghostbusting. I definitely wouldn’t want to see his spirit busted though, just his passing addressed in the context of the story. Or perhaps his spirit communicates to them in some capacity (through a gadget he designed before he died) which allows him to give them useful information from the other side.

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I never read the script, but it’s definitely an interesting concept, rather than repeating the same formula of 4 team members saving the world/New York from a big monster.

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Does anyone remember the RGB episode where they are in an old mansion, and the bigger the hole they create trying to clear the place, the bigger the ghost that comes out?

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Speaking of RGB, I would love to see Samhain be the main baddie for Halloween themed movie.

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Not me. It’s been a while since I’ve watched the whole series.

I’d like to see him in an animated or CG movie. Don’t know if they could pull that off in live-action.

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Oh yeah there are A million wonderful ideas being presented here. A lot of great minds on these boards. I had a few ideas knocking around my head for a while. This is the most recent one I felt could probably work. I would love to see a passing of the torch story, of course. I would concentrate on a mixed crop of Ghostbusters men and woman 4 at the least 6 at most. Most of the focus would be getting to know this crop that way Bill Murray wouldn’t feel the pressure of carrying another Ghostbusters film.

I would love to see the Ghostbusters thriving with many franchises open around the world. They have even figured out a way to open hair line fractures in space and time to send Ghosts back to the other side rather than containing them. The Ghostbusters are such a normal thing that there is now a museum dedicated to them with the original uniforms and equipment on display. Now something happens that is so big that it puts many of the franchises including the New York Central HQ out of commission, save for a few cadets that have not yet gone through basic Ghostbusters training. This brings Ray and Winston out of retirement to train these cadets in a crash course to save the world. Again we concentrate on the new cadets through most of the movie eventually figuring out what the big bad is and then formulating a plan to stop it. I would also love to see Ray and Winston suit up one last time to aid the cadets. Peter too of course if you can get Bill Murray to suit up for at least twenty minutes of screen time. ;).

That is a footnote version of what I would like to have seen. I know it is a bit uninspired and hallow and filled with a million tropes that we have seen in many franchises that have passed the torch before, but I think something like that would be a lot of fun. :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

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The funny thing is that even the feig script can be turned into a sequel. Sure, the girls are handled over the gear, but it could be broken/outdated. Holtzmann could come up with HER equipment and the old one is put in a museum.

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I probably wouldn’t have made a reboot. I would have made a sequel before Ramis died and used that film to reboot the series by introducing a new team with Oscar as one of the new Ghostbusters.

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There’s been alot of people defending the new movie, which is good, but I have yet to hear " they just nailed the cast, got it perfect!"a bunch of things could have been different. I think a female cast that appeals to women and men equally would have been better. I would have prefered a dry morbid humor vs the slapstick that it appears to be. I liked the extreme gb premise that one of the origanl ghostbusters is a professor passing the tourch to a mixed cast of grad students. I wish we could have gotten a cg movie while all the cast was still alive.

I personally wouldn’t have done a movie. I think there’s a ton of backlash anytime you mess with a classic. Just ask george Lucas. Im sure he still gets hate mail today about jar jar binx. A Netflix series , remake retro 80s Supernatural Style with proton packs featuring ghost from RGB

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This would have been the best idea. I like the inclusion of Kylie a lot like the comics did. I’d have Venkman retired to Bermuda or somewhere with Dana,having sold his interest in the company.

Ray would be the CEO in more of a figurehead way since I’d still see him elbows deep in R&D and investigations.

Janine would be actually handling the business end as Ray’s "assistant"CEO. I don’t see Ray being behind an office desk longer than 5 minutes.

Winston would be in charge of training and personnel. I see him like Sgt. Apone in Aliens.

I wouldn’t have Egon dead. That puts a damper on things right off the bat.

Harold may be gone but Egon is a legend and legends don’t die so easily. My explanation for his absence would be that Egon was recruited to be lead scientist at Area 51 and due to government security Egon wouldn’t have much outside contact.

Plus I could see Egon totally engrossed with getting his hands on actual highly advanced “found” tech that he would forget there was an outside world. Maybe have Ray mention to a new recruit that they hardly ever hear from Egon except for emails out of the blue describing new theories on reality,space/time.other dimensions ect.

Egon would also probably apply the advanced alien tech to Ghostbusting and send ideas and schematic concepts for upgrades and new equipment.

I like the other ideas mentioned like having this more horror based with some comedy to ease tensions.

The Ghost Zoo concept is great! Maybe even a sort of “petting zoo” for the brave with the more harmless(more or less)entities in a special containment room.

I would throw some of these reality show ghost hunters and the hill billy “monster and squatch” hunters in that get in over their heads and needing rescue.

Samhaim would be good to include along with horror meme things like Slenderman,The Rake,ect.

The movie would still need a major entity to battle. Maybe that could explain the new entities like Slenderman as it weakens the barrier between realms allowing new things in.

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Yeah, I clarified that in the first post - a reboot OR a sequel, but I agree - my own ideas described a sequel, not a reboot.

That’s what I was hoping for instead of a live-action film. Even a traditional animated film could have a lot of potential if it was directed more at an adult audience.

The paranormal museum/zoo/observatory could be set up with enclosures that replicate the environment the entity haunted. For example, Eleanor Twitty’s exhibit would look like a library and there would be an audio or written description of what her life was like prior to her death, along with the events that led up to it. I imagine there would be a separate maximum security wing of the facility dedicated specifically to demonic entities.

Scientists all across the world would flock to New York City to study and observe these spectres in a controlled environment. The security breach which leads to the spirits escaping their holding cells may be the result of spirit’s rights activists who are appalled that the ghosts are being held against their will as a sort of spectacle for the living. But, yeah, the story would still involve a major villain which may or may not be related to the ghosts escaping this facility.

1 Like
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Sorry kids, the PERFECT reboot script was written years ago, read it here. GBFans.com

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That’s hard to rival. I don’t even know if Sony could compete with that. Although, I hear the power of Patty is quite compelling.

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The ghost rights activist could be messing around with a containment/observation cell with a non human entity that casts illusions to attract prey. In this case maybe a crying little girl saying she wants to be with mommy and daddy in heaven but the mean Ghostbusters hurt her and caged her up. So the idiot finds a way to deactivate the containment field and the little girl suddenly morphs into a huge Wendigo type beast. Laughing as it bites the activists head off then runs amok. The Ghostbusters could discover the barrier between our realm and others has been badly compromised after Gozer’s visit and it weakens more every time something else tries to breach it into this realm. And signs point to something really,really horrible and powerful has discovered the weak spot and is furiously hammering at it.

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Egon’s daughter and Oscar end up in the same Physics University both for different reasons (their history).

After particle experiments get weird with physical constants starting to fluctuate (physical constants are supposed to be constant across the universe), they go through her deceased fathers (Egon’s) old belongings.

They find a note with an address and the name Ray Stantz on it.

They go on an adventure to find this crazy old man.

Weird serendipitous things happen while trying to find him.

They run into Winston who lives in a run down ghetto and is known as this fearless old man. Not just really brave, but literally fearless. Its the source of humor in the movie.

You get to see what became of the old Ghostbusters.

Then they face off against the source of the problems together and at the end they have to call on Venkman for the final help.

The old GB’s end up coming together one final time before symbolically passing the baton to the new generation

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I’d have made it a Neflix TV series (along the lines of Marvel’s Netflix shows). The concept would be that after the events of GB2, Ghostbusters has become a fully funded NY City department (like the NYFD). It’d be a little like a CSI type show, only with comedy and a lot more surreal. Ray Stantz would be the chief, Winston Zeddemore the second-in-command and the first season would focus on a new bunch of recruits just starting. Amongst the new recruits, two best friends, Oscar Barret and Harold “Harry” Tully, the son of Louis and Janine.