The original 1984 Ghostbusters arrives back in movie theaters exclusively for its 30th anniversary.
Ghostbusters’ is still one of our studio’s most beloved franchises,” president of worldwide distribution for Sony Pictures, Rory Bruer, told Wild About Movies. “I was lucky enough to work on the release of the film on its first run, so it’s a real thrill to see that it’s still connecting with audiences everywhere.”
“Ghostbusters” will be re-released for a limited time on August 29, 2014. Following the limited run the film will be released on Blu-ray as a special 30th anniversary edition (which Wild About Movies will be giving away via our Facebook page). “Ghostbusters II” will also be released on Blu-ray for the first time as a 25th anniversary edition.
“To celebrate this milestone anniversary, we wanted to create something new and collectible for fans,” senior executive VP of worldwide marketing for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Lexine Wong, said. “These new ‘Ghostbusters’ Blu-rays will feature the highest quality presentation along with new content that reflects the rich history of this iconic franchise.”
Some of the new features include never-before-seen deleted scenes from “Ghostbusters II” and interviews with director Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd. The Blu-rays will be available starting September 16, 2014.
Ghostbusters was released in movie theaters on June 8, 1984 and way before movie theater multiplexes were the norm.
Today, a movie will be released, on average (when it is a wide release) on 4000 screens.
Ghostbusters, at its height, was released on 1339 screens.
Meanwhile, Ghostbusters amassed $229,242,989 during its original theatrical run, when ticket prices averaged $2 and VHS was a novelty. Movies in the early 1980s played first run, on average, for 5 months, compared to 4-6 weeks, today. (With current 2014 movie ticket prices, the original box office gross for Ghostbusters would be over $600,000).
Beverly Hills Copy (the first in the trilogy) was the #1 movie at the 1984 movie box office, with $239,000,000. Ghostbusters followed, at #2. Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom was #3, with $179,000,000.
Talk about a year (and summer) that had fantastic movies in theaters.
The Top 25 at the 1984 movie box office is featured below. And there really isn’t a turkey in the bunch (with the exceptions of City Heat and, maybe Star Trek III).
1 Beverly Hills Cop
2 Ghostbusters
3 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
4 Gremlins
5 The Karate Kid
6 Police Academy
7 Footloose
8 Romancing the Stone
9 Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
10 Splash
11 Purple Rain
12 Amadeus
13 Tightrope
14 The Natural
15 Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan
16 Revenge of the Nerds
17 2010
18 Breakin’
19 Bachelor Party
20 Red Dawn
21 The Terminator
22 City Heat
23 All of Me
24 Places in the Heart
25 The Killing Fields
