50 Fun Facts About Ghostbusters (2016)

Which Hollywood star plays Kevin Beckman, the receptionist the team hires in the 2016 Ghostbusters?

Chris Hemsworth won Favorite Movie Actor at the 2017 Kids' Choice Awards for the part, one of three prizes the film took home from that ceremony.

Which star of the original films cameos in the 2016 Ghostbusters as Martin Heiss, a debunker of the paranormal?

Bill Murray had refused for years to commit to a third Ghostbusters, one reason the series was rebooted. He later said he took the cameo out of friendship with two of its stars.

Which character from the earlier films steals the Ecto-1 for a joyride through New York in the 2016 Ghostbusters?

Slimer gets a girlfriend this time, Lady Slimer, voiced by the puppeteer who wore the green suit in Ghostbusters II. The pair end up crashing the car into the portal.

What kind of vehicle does Patty Tolan borrow from her uncle to become the Ecto-1 in the 2016 Ghostbusters?

A hearse keeps up a tradition, since the 1984 Ecto-1 was an old ambulance conversion. The new car holds on to its red roof even after the team repaint it.

Which monster from the 1984 original returns as a possessed parade balloon in the 2016 Ghostbusters?

The Marshmallow Man pins three of the heroes to the ground until Erin Gilbert bursts him. On set, the cast acted against giant real balloons that stood in for the effects.

In the 2016 Ghostbusters, villain Rowan North grows into a giant monster shaped like which familiar figure?

The team's logo ghost becomes the final enemy once Rowan gives up Kevin's body and swells to kaiju size. The effects house MPC built the creature for the last battle.

Which comedian plays Jillian Holtzmann, the engineer who builds the proton packs, in the 2016 Ghostbusters?

Kate McKinnon won Best Comedic Actress from the Women Film Critics Circle for Holtzmann, and a Critics' Choice nomination went with it.

How did YouTube viewers greet the first trailer for the 2016 Ghostbusters when it appeared that March?

A record count of dislikes made it the most disliked film trailer on the site by May 2016, with over a million thumbs down against 280,000 likes.

Three of the four leads of the 2016 Ghostbusters had been cast members on which American sketch comedy show?

Saturday Night Live also supplied one of its producers, Steve Higgins, who plays a college dean, while a former writer for the series plays the villain.

Which Hollywood star makes a late cameo as Rebecca Gorin, mentor to Holtzmann, in the 2016 Ghostbusters?

Sigourney Weaver played Dana Barrett in the first two films, but here she is someone new, like every returning face: the reboot shares no story with its predecessors.

Which comedy star plays Abby Yates, who never stopped researching the paranormal, in the 2016 Ghostbusters?

Melissa McCarthy had signed on before any co-star was confirmed, and the film gave her the biggest opening weekend of her career up to that point.

Which actress plays Erin Gilbert, the physics professor who loses her shot at tenure, in the 2016 Ghostbusters?

Kristen Wiig's character is passed over once a video of her ghost hunt goes viral. The actress later said the row over an all-women cast had left her disheartened.

Which stand-up comedian plays Patty Tolan, the fourth recruit to the team, in the 2016 Ghostbusters?

Leslie Jones replied to critics who called Patty a stereotype by asking why a regular person couldn't be a Ghostbuster. The role brought her a Black Reel Award nomination.

Where is Patty Tolan working when she first sees a ghost and contacts the team in the 2016 Ghostbusters?

Patty works in a subway station built under a former prison, and the team first fire their prototype proton packs there. The scenes were shot on a soundstage, not on real platforms.

In the 2016 Ghostbusters, the team's first headquarters is a set of rooms above what kind of business?

A Chinese restaurant, long closed, sits below their first base, which they kit out with equipment taken from the institute that sacked two of them.

At the end of the 2016 Ghostbusters, quiet funding from the mayor lets the heroes move into what kind of building?

A disused firehouse was also home to the 1984 heroes, so the reboot ends where the original began. There the women build new gear, including a containment unit.

Which filmmaker behind Bridesmaids, The Heat and Spy directed and co-wrote the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot?

Paul Feig turned down a straight sequel first, feeling a hand-over from the old heroes would keep his new cast out of the spotlight. That talk produced the idea of a reboot.

Whose original 1984 version of the theme song sits beside three new covers on the 2016 Ghostbusters soundtrack?

Ray Parker Jr. wrote the song for the first film and took it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, his only number one on that chart.

Which 2021 Ghostbusters film returned to the original story after Sony dropped its sequel to the 2016 reboot?

Afterlife ignores the events of the reboot entirely, though its director said he admired the 2016 film and meant no snub by leaving it out.

Which subtitle did the studio add to the 2016 Ghostbusters in its end credits to set it apart from the original?

Answer the Call was the studio's pick after the director rejected a subtitle built on the release year, which he felt would date the film. He asked only that it stay off the opening.

Which veteran actor cameos near the end of the 2016 Ghostbusters as the uncle who lent Patty Tolan a car?

Ernie Hudson played Winston Zeddemore, the fourth Ghostbuster of the first two films, and joined the new stars on a chat show to help promote the reboot.

What job does Dan Aykroyd's cameo character do in the 2016 Ghostbusters, despite knowing plenty about the paranormal?

Taxi driver is the day job of a character oddly well versed in parapsychology. Aykroyd, who co-wrote the 1984 film, was also an executive producer on the reboot.

Which late comedy star is honoured with a bust outside Erin Gilbert's office in the 2016 Ghostbusters?

Harold Ramis, who co-wrote the 1984 film and played Egon Spengler, died in 2014. His son Daniel also appears in the reboot, in the crowd at a music festival.

Which rock band teamed with Missy Elliott to cover the theme song for the 2016 Ghostbusters soundtrack?

Fall Out Boy put the cover out as a single three weeks before the film opened, and critics gave it harsh reviews.

Which a cappella group sang a new version of the theme song on the soundtrack of the 2016 Ghostbusters?

Pentatonix were one of three acts to remake the theme for the album, which RCA released on the same day the film opened in America.

At which Ivy League university is Erin Gilbert in line for tenure when the 2016 Ghostbusters begins?

Columbia is the real thing on screen: after weeks of shooting elsewhere, the crew filmed outside the university's New York campus just before production wrapped.

What is the title of the book on the paranormal that Abby Yates and Erin Gilbert co-wrote in the 2016 Ghostbusters?

Ghosts from Our Past drives the plot twice: its reissue reunites the estranged friends, and the villain's own annotated copy explains how he matched their technology.

Which name from the 1984 original does Patty Tolan hear among spirit voices as the 2016 Ghostbusters ends?

Zuul was one of the Terror Dogs of the 1984 film, so the closing word teased a sequel that the cast had signed up for but never got to make.

The 2016 Ghostbusters is set in Manhattan, but in which other American city did principal photography begin?

Boston hosted the shoot from June 2015, and the production did not reach New York itself until the final week of filming that September.

Which animated film kept the 2016 Ghostbusters off the top of the American box office on its opening weekend?

The Secret Life of Pets took $50.8 million that weekend against $46 million for the newcomer, which was still the best opening of its director's career to that date.

Which director of the first two films co-produced the 2016 Ghostbusters and appears on screen as a passer-by?

Ivan Reitman had been developing a third film himself, but gave up the director's chair in 2014 to focus on smaller projects and stayed on to help find his replacement.

At which fictional Manhattan hotel does Rowan North open his portal to the netherworld in the 2016 Ghostbusters?

The Mercado has a history of violent events, which is why Rowan picks it, and one of the stars of the 1984 film has a cameo behind its front desk.

Which haunted house do the heroes of the 2016 Ghostbusters investigate first, meeting the ghost of an eldest daughter?

Aldridge Mansion restores Erin Gilbert's belief in the supernatural, and the clip the friends post of the encounter costs her the tenure she was chasing.

In the climax of the 2016 Ghostbusters, which part of the Ecto-1 do the heroes detonate to reverse the portal?

A nuclear reactor is one of the upgrades the heroes fit to the car, and setting it off inside the vortex drags the villain and his ghosts back through.

In the 2016 Ghostbusters, what kind of vehicle is the Ecto-2 that Kevin Beckman supplies for the team?

A motorbike was a new idea for the name: in the cartoons the Ecto-2 was a tiny two-seat aircraft. Kevin hands it over shortly before the villain possesses him.

The Ecto-1 of the 2016 Ghostbusters is a converted 1984 Fleetwood built by which American car maker?

Cadillac also made the 1959 car of the first film, so the reboot's Ecto-1 is a quarter-century younger than the one fans knew.

The extended cut of the 2016 Ghostbusters restores a failed attempt at which trick from the 1984 original?

Crossing the streams fails to shut the portal in the longer version, which adds over 17 minutes of footage and came out with the home release.

Which actress was approached to star in the 2016 Ghostbusters but declined, wary of committing to a franchise?

Emma Stone was not the only near miss: Cecily Strong was considered for a lead before taking the supporting part of the mayor's deputy.

Which actor plays Mayor Bradley, who publicly brands the heroes frauds, in the 2016 Ghostbusters?

Andy Garcia's mayor knows the ghosts are real all along, and by the end he is paying for the Ghostbusters' work while still denouncing them.

In the 2016 Ghostbusters, the mayor reveals that which arm of the federal government already knows about the hauntings?

The DHS, the Department of Homeland Security, knows the ghosts are real, as does the mayor's office, which praises the heroes in private and brands them frauds in public.

Which heavy metal frontman plays himself in a brief cameo in the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot?

Ozzy Osbourne is one of six people credited as themselves, a list that also includes the television presenter Al Roker.

Which messaging app promoted the 2016 Ghostbusters with a filter that let users fire a virtual proton pack?

Snapchat users aimed the pack with their front-facing cameras, and ten-second teaser ads for the film ran in the app's Discover section.

Which talk show host gave a whole episode to the 2016 Ghostbusters, bringing original and new casts together?

Jimmy Kimmel handed over his June 8 show to the film about five weeks before it opened, with four members of the 1984 cast appearing beside the new stars.

Which video game built on collectible toy figures added a Story Pack retelling the 2016 Ghostbusters?

Lego Dimensions had already covered the 1984 film in an earlier pack, so the game ended up with brick versions of both the old and the new Ecto-1.

Which hit television horror series did the director of the 2016 Ghostbusters name as a partial inspiration?

The Walking Dead helped shape his aim of telling a story viewers had seen before in a way they had not, the director said.

On the set of the 2016 Ghostbusters, what covered the ghost stand-ins so the effects crew could match their glow?

LED lights were needed because the film's ghosts glow, so the performers doubling for them had to throw real illumination on the actors and the set.

Which film website saw a coordinated effort to drag down the rating of the 2016 Ghostbusters before it opened?

IMDb was hit before anyone could have seen the film, and the row prompted a new scene, shot in May 2016, in which the heroes read hostile comments online.

Which comics publisher released Ghostbusters 101, a series teaming the original heroes with those of the 2016 film?

IDW Publishing ran the six-part crossover in 2017, then gave the reboot's heroes a five-issue series of their own later that year.

Which actress, Janine Melnitz in the first two films, cameos behind a hotel front desk in the 2016 Ghostbusters?

Annie Potts plays a receptionist called Vanessa this time, at the very hotel where the villain later opens his portal.

Which singer performed Good Girls, the single heard over the end credits of the 2016 Ghostbusters?

Elle King released the song six weeks before the film as the first single from its album, with a video following two days ahead of opening day.