As we kick off a "Ghostbuster Summer" worth of advertising and special themed product tie-ins, I thought it appropriate to celebrate the 32nd Anniversary of "Ghostbusters 2." As we wait for the next installment of the Ghostbuster series in November, let's take a look back at the less popular (but in my opinion, just as great) sequel to the original.
Debuting 32 years ago today, June 16, 1989, Ghostbusters 2 was produced by Ivan Reitman and written by stars Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. Also starring Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, and Annie Potts, this movie was a direct sequel to the 1984 "Ghostbusters" smash hit. Set five years after the first film, the Ghostbusters have been sued to death and out of business because of the destruction created by the battle with Gozer in the first film. When new paranormal threats emerge, the team reunites to save the world.
The script went through many iterations because of studio objections, as Aykroyd and Ramis wanted to portray the consequences of negative emotions caused by large cities. The writers and studio eventually agreed upon paranormal events that fed off New York City's infamous negativity. Filmed in New York and Los Angeles, with a budget of $40 million, filming took place between November 1988 and March of 89. New scenes were reshot during March and April, just two months before its release.
The movie debuted to generally negative critical review. At the time, most critics considered it a copycat of the first film that had toned down its adult dark humor for a family-friendly venture. When Ghostbusters 2 debuted, it was the sequel to the highest-grossing comedy film of all time and was expected to dominate the box office. Instead, it earned $215.4 million compared with $282.2 for the original film. Columbia Pictures considered it a financial and critical failure, which was enough to convince Bill Murray to not participate in a third Ghostbusters film and stalling the franchise for over 2 decades. Interestingly enough, the film's soundtrack hit single "On Our Own," by Bobby Brown, was a great success that spent 20 weeks on the United States music charts.
While it may not have received the critical praise of the original movie, Ghostbusters 2 has since developed an audience following. The film itself spawned merchandise like video games, comic books, music, toys, and even these trading cards.
These cards were a little warped with age, and several of them were pretty dirty and dusty. I cleaned them up the best I could without ruining the images, but I apologize if it shows in the scans; but what do you want for 32-year-old trading cards? The brittle piece of gum included in the pack was also stuck pretty good to the card, which may obscure the image on the back of the Ray's Bookstore card.
All in all, these were a great collection of trading cards that I know for sure as a kid I enjoyed combing through back in the day. The pack included a good collection of film images, some from iconic scenes like the courtroom, and even a "behind-the-scenes" image of them filming the underground sewer-of-goo scene. The sticker of the Scoleri Brothers is a great image and may or may not already be headed towards my workshop in the garage, where I have a collection of some of these stickers.
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