DRUNK CINEMA 059: "Ghostbusters II" Is Up!

 
"You know, I have met some dumb blondes in my life, but you take the taco, pal! Only a Carpathian would come back to life now and choose New York! Tasty pick, bonehead! If you had brain one in that huge melon on top of your neck, you would be living the sweet life out in Southern California's beautiful San Fernando Valley!"
-- Dr. Peter Venkman to Vigo, Ghostbusters II

Hello again, movie fans!  My wonderful co-host Xan Sprouse and I are back with a new episode of Drunk Cinema! This time, we watch Ghostbusters II, the 1989 supernatural comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and featuring the return of Bill Murray as Peter Venkman, Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stantz, Harold Ramis as Egon Spengler, Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore, and Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett!

This time, Xan and I discuss things like Bill Murray saying they'll burn in hell for calling this film Ghostbusters II, how we rank the Ghostbusters movies, watching this movie on my 20th birthday, Summer 1989 being a great time for blockbusters, Bill Murray's feud with Harold Ramis while making Groundhog Day, the first appearance of Ray's Occult Books, Harold Ramis talking like Bert from Sesame Street, the Beach pneumatic transit system, Xan kink-shaming Egon, guys sucking in their guts, former Columbia Pictures chairman David Puttnam pissing off Bill Murray and his talent agent Michael Ovitz, wondering why Janosz has so many candles on the floor, when the Titanic was actually found, why the Ghostbusters needed the Nintendo Power Glove, new Drunk Mail from Christine Peruski and Dave Proctor, wondering if we can actually record Drunk Cinema two weeks in a row, and more!

If you'd like to check out our podcast and subscribe to us, you can find us on...

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Be sure to come back in just one week as Xan and I watch The Empire Strikes Back, the 1980 space opera sequel to Star Wars directed by Irvin Kershner, featuring the return of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa, and Harrison Ford as Han Solo!

New GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE Trailer Teases the Return of Ray Stantz & Janine Melnitz

 
Are you ready to believe them?

Sony Pictures has released a new trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the upcoming sequel to the films Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II, directed by Jason Reitman. Set thirty years after the events of the second film, a single mother and her two children move to a small town in Oklahoma, where they discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and their grandfather's secret legacy.

The two-minute, 30-second trailer opens on the town of Summerville, Oklahoma, with Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon), the daughter of original Ghostbuster Egon Spengler (the late Harold Ramis), moving to the small town with her children, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace).

We move to the local burger joint, Spinners, where Callie is talking with Mr. Grooberson (Paul Rudd) about her children. "You're a great mom," Grooberson remarks.

"I don't know. I'm fine with Trevor but with Phoebe...She really keeps me on the outside."

"That's normal," replies Grooberson. "She's an awkward, nerdy kid."

"Maybe a new home can be an opportunity to start fresh. I just wish she'd get into some trouble."

"There's still time."

We see Phoebe solving a puzzle embedded in wooden flooring and finding one of the Ghost Traps from the original two films.

Next, we cut to Trevor, who is hanging with some high school kids at an old drilling shaft site. "What are you doing here in Summerville, anyway?" asks one teenaged girl named Lucky (Celeste O'Connor).

"We're completely broke," explains Trevor, "and our grandfather left us this creepy old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere."

Cutting to the inside of the farmhouse, we hear the voice of Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts) tell Callie, "Your father wasn't much of a homemaker. He could hardly keep the power on."

"You're saying he left us nothing?" asks Callie.

"Well, I wouldn't say nothing..."

We see Trevor finding the original Ecto-1 1959 Cadillac after pulling up the dusty tarp covering it, followed by Phoebe seeing Trevor working on the engine. "You went with the station wagon?" she asks.

"It's the only one that had an engine," he replies as a separate scene shows him joyriding through a field.

Suddenly, storm clouds and small earthquakes rattling the town follow, with Trevor asking, "What is happening here?"

In a separate scene, Grooberson tells Phoebe, "Somehow, a town with no fault lines is shaking on a daily basis."

"Maybe it's the apocalypse," replies Phoebe as we see a ghost suddenly emerge from the shaft site, startling Trevor and the teenagers.

In another scene, Phoebe remarks, "Egon came out here for a reason" and we see her watching the original Ghostbusters commercial, which is now on YouTube. As the commercial plays, we see someone finding a P.K.E. meter, while Grooberson encounters several tiny Stay-Puft marshmallow men at the local Walmart.

Things start to get worse, with a giant ominous stormcloud hovering above, followed by dark forces emerging from a large pit. The main road downtown begins to crack, spectral energy begins to swirl through the sky, and an undead miner gets coffee at Spinners. "This whole city," remarks Grooberson, "it's like The Walking Dead."

As a Terror Dog chases Grooberson out of the Walmart, we then see Trevor and Phoebe wearing Ghostbusters jumpsuits and Phoebe using a particle thrower on a ghost named Muncher while riding outside Ecto-1 through the streets of Summerville.

In the final scene, we see Grooberson watching the commercial on YouTube with Phoebe, which cuts to a familiar occult bookstore at night. The phone rings and we hear the voice of Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) quickly answer, "We're closed."

If you'd like to check out the new trailer, you can below it below thanks to the official Ghostbusters account on YouTube...

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is currently expected to arrive in theaters on November 11, 2021.

DRUNK CINEMA 012: "Ghostbusters (1984)" Is Up!

 

"I'm worried, Ray.  It's getting crowded in there, and all my recent data points to something big on the horizon."
"What do you mean 'big'?"

"Well...let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area. According to this morning's sample, it would be a Twinkie...35 feet long and weighing approximately 600 pounds."

"That's a big Twinkie."

-- Dr. Egon Spengler and Winston Zeddemore, Ghostbusters (1984)

Hey there, movie fans!  My wonderful co-host Xan Sprouse and I are back with a new episode of Drunk Cinema!  This time, we watch Ghostbusters, the 1984 supernatural comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and featuring Bill Murray as Peter Venkman, Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stantz, Harold Ramis as Egon Spengler, Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore, and Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett!

In this episode, Xan and I discuss things like the 37th anniversary of Ghostbusters, Ivan Reitman's son Jason making a cameo in Ghostbusters II, Ernie Hudson in The Crow, Stevie Wonder getting the Best Original Song Oscar instead of Ray Parker Jr., Annette Bening being rumored as the woman in the Columbia Pictures logo, Columbia originally considering other titles for Ghostbusters because of the 1975 CBS Saturday morning sitcom The Ghost Busters, wondering why Venkman calls Ray "Francine", Venkman seriously creeping on Dana, cameos from Joe Franklin, Larry King and Casey Kasem, Sigourney Weaver stripping down to her underwear once again, little known songs on the Ghostbusters soundtrack, Dana losing her apartment to Gozer and becoming homeless, Xan loving Mr. Stay-Puft's cute little face, the few good movies starring Saturday Night Live cast members, Xan's story about Ricky Whittle from American Gods, my obscure "Sabotage" reference, Xan being the Gracie Allen to my George Burns, Xan lobbying for DJ Nik and I to discuss Resident Alien on The Fandom Zone Podcast, my turning 52 years old, and more!

If you'd like to check out our podcast and subscribe to us, you can find us on...

Apple Podcasts -- RIGHT HERE
Direct MP3 downloads/Libsyn -- RIGHT HERE
Spotify -- RIGHT HERE

Stitcher -- RIGHT HERE

Drunk Cinema's Facebook Page

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Be sure to come back in two weeks for Episode 013, as Xan and I watch RoboCop, the 1987 science-fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and featuring Peter Weller as RoboCop/Alex Murphy, Nancy Allen as Anne Lewis, Ronny Cox as Dick Jones, and Kurtwood Smith as Clarence Boddicker!

GHOSTBUSTERS 3 to Film in 2015 Without Ivan Reitman

Who you gonna call?  Not Ivan Reitman, it seems.

Last night, Deadline reported that Sony Pictures is looking at early 2015 for production to begin in New York on the long, long, long-awaited Ghostbusters 3.  However, following the recent death of Harold Ramis, writer and co-star of the previous Ghostbusters movies as Dr. Egon Spengler, Reitman has decided that he won't return to direct the third installment and will only serve as a producer.

"There has been all kinds of stuff, unofficially written about Ghostbusters," said Reitman.  "I’ve been reading things online for about four years, speculation on who’s writing, what they’re writing, who’s in it, who we will use, and who’s directing.  We’d decided not to comment up till now.  I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, and it was never clear what Bill [Murray] was going to do.  A lot of things happened in the last few months, the most significant of which was the passing of Harold, who was a very good friend who was extraordinarily influential in my career.  We did five movies together including both Ghostbusters."

Reitman commented on the various attempts to persuade Bill Murray to reprise his role of Dr. Peter Venkman, which involved two scripts.  "The first was done by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, and me, Harold and Dan [Aykroyd] helped them on it," remarked Reitman.  "It was a really good script, but then it became clear that Bill really didn’t want to do another Ghostbusters and that it was literally impossible to find him to speak to for the year or two we tried to get it going.  When Bill finally…well, he never actually said no, but he never said yes, so there was no way to make that film.  We decided to start over again, and I started working with Etan Cohen, with Dan lending a helping hand.  Harold got sick about three years ago, and we kept hoping he would get better.  I kept pushing forward on the Etan Cohen and we now have a draft that is very good, that the studio is very excited about."

Reitman added, "It’s a version of Ghostbusters that has the originals in a very minor role.  When I came back from Harold’s funeral, it was really moving and it made me think about a lot of things.  I’d just finished directing Draft Day, which I’m really happy with and proud of.  Working on a film that is smaller and more dramatic was so much fun and satisfying.  I just finally met with Amy [Pascal] and Doug Belgrad when I got back.  I said I’d been thinking about it for weeks, that I’d rather just produce this Ghostbusters.  I told them I thought I could help but let’s find a really good director and make it with him.  So that’s what we’ve agreed will happen.  I didn’t want all kinds of speculation about what happened with me, that is the real story."

The producers are working on a short list of directors they'll approach, then they will focus on deciding the new cast.  "I’m not going to say how many Ghostbusters there will be in the new cast," said Reitman, "but we are determined to retain the spirit of the original film, and I am pleased that all of this seems to have happened organically.  I’m hoping we can get started by the fall, set in New York, but given the logistics and the stuff that happens, the beginning of 2015 seems more likely."

Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal confirmed Reitman's decision to not direct.  "We totally understood," she said.  "He was thinking he might feel that way when Harold died, and then came back to us and confirmed it, that while he was excited to return and make the movie as producer, but did not feel he wanted to direct the movie.  We are delighted to work with Ivan on this movie in that capacity.  We love him, and he’s going to continue to play an important role.  We’re very anxious to get the movie started."

No GHOSTBUSTERS III Without Bill Murray as Venkman

It seems that unless Bill Murray signs on, Ghostbusters III is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.

An article posted on Deadline yesterday by Mike Fleming claims that returning director Ivan Reitman and Sony Pictures have no idea if Bill Murray is on board after receiving the proposed script.  If he doesn't sign on, the studio will reportedly not make the film.

Quoting an insider, Fleming adds, "The studio won't even think about forward on a $150 million film unless Bill has a closed deal and a commitment.  It's too huge a risk to do any meaningful prep, hoping he shows up."

Murray's Dr. Peter Venkman is easily the most popular Ghostbuster, so it's not hard to see the film not going forward if he passes on the project.  On the plus side, though, it sounds as if Sigourney Weaver is game for returning as Venkman's love interest, Dana Barrett.  In an interview last month for Entertainment Weekly, Weaver mentioned that Murray told her they were going to go ahead with Ghostbusters III, but that she wasn't sure about that.  She added, however, "But I’ve talked to Ivan Reitman.  He definitely wants to do it.  There was a script that was being rewritten as of about a year ago.  The one thing I said is that I’ll do it if Oscar, my little son, can be a Ghostbuster, and I think he liked that idea."

Ghostbusters: The Next Generation?  Make it so.