Enjoy this sample chapter from Ghostbusters Collectables
by Matt MacNabb
Published by Amberley Books July 2016
Chapter
One: Ghostbusters: The 1984 Feature Film
The
landscape of American cinema and pop culture both changed drastically
on one fateful day, June 8, 1984. The day that Ghostbusters exploded
into theaters had a profound impact. Its been over 30 years and fans
are still celebrating this now classic supernatural comedy film that
continues to resonate so very strongly.
It
feels like a given now, but back in 1984 there were no movies about
ghost hunters and certainly none that took the topic even remotely
seriously. Filmation had produced a live action series in the 1970s
with the same title, featuring two goofy Ghosthunters and their
gorilla friend. Fans would later see that concept turned into a
competing cartoon in 1986.
The
beauty of Ghostbusters was the mixture of horror and comedy that
almost felt legitmate in some way. The concept for Ghostbusters was
developed originally by the comedic and creative genius of Dan
Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, the actors that portrayed Ray Stantz and
Egon Spengler in the film. The film was masterfully produced and
directed by Ivan Reitman, who had worked previously with Bill Murray
and Harold Ramis on the cult comedy hit Stripes. The film was
intended to consist of a mixture of Saturday Night Live alumni, such
as John Belushi and Eddie Murphy, and other great comedic actors,
like John Candy. Belushi passed away before he could fulfill the
role of Peter Venkman and John Candy wouldn't commit to portraying
Louis Tully. Eddie Murphy went the route of Beverly Hills Cop, a
film that would spawn a franchise for him and make him a huge star of
cinema. It all worked out for the best, because in the end fans got
what is now a beloved cast of characters portrayed by just the right
mixture of actors.
The
Ghostbusters merchandise train really took off in 1986 with the
inception of the Kenner toy line based on The Real Ghostbusters, an
animated series based on the 1984 feature film. There was a fair
amount of merchandise produced for the first film, but a good
majority of it was practical items like t-shirts, stickers, buttons,
posters and books. This was during an era when iron-on t-shirt shops
were still a huge trend, so a lot of licensed shirts from the era can
be found on a variety of shirt colors. Ghostbusters movie shirts of
the era can be seen on everything from back to purple to red
t-shirts. The best selling collectible from the original film would
no doubt be the single of the theme song by Ray Parker Jr. It was
released on both record and cassette tape.
In
the modern era toy companies have done their best to make-up the gap
that we always had with the first film, by producing a variety of
classic film themed items. We will cover those in later chapters of
the book. In the meantime, please enjoy this sampling of
collectibles from the very first Ghostbusters film.
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