Will Old Unused Footage From the Original GHOSTBUSTERS Film Be Used in the Upcoming Sequel?
During the Ghostbusters Fan Fest that I attended this weekend with a bunch of other hardcore Ghostbusters fans, director Ivan Reitman and his son Jason Reitman held a panel to talk a little bit about the franchise, and they also showed a few clips of never-before-seen footage from the original film.
They didn’t show these clips on a big screen. They were just shown on a couple TV’s they had on stage, so if I had tried to film it you wouldn’t have been able to see anything. But I believe some of that footage will be included in the upcoming 35th anniversary Blu-ray 4k release. Dan Aykroyd said that it was going to be filled with all kinds of goodies like this.
Anyway, while Jason Reitman was talking about the discovery of this footage, he made an interesting remark about the main reason why he was digging into this footage that he wouldn’t reveal. Here’s what he said:
“In making this movie, we found something kind of extraordinary. We went to Sony, and we said, ‘We’d really love to get back into the original dailies from 1984. Do you still have them?’ And we found them. They were in a mine in Kansas, and we shipped the boxes to Burbank. We’ve been going through the footage for reasons I cannot tell you, but along the way we found some really cool stuff.”
So, what is this reason he was looking for this old unused footage? Well, I personally think that it will in some way be utilized in his upcoming Ghostbusters sequel. I don’t know how, or what he’s planning, but it will be interesting to see if he ends up using some old never-before-released footage to help drive his story forward and that thought has me even more excited! Why else wouldn’t he reveal the reason he was digging up old footage!? It’s going to be a fun surprise for the fans!
So how would the footage be utilized? I have no idea. We know that all of the surviving Ghostbusters cast members will be returning to the film, such as Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, and Ernie Hudson. The director revealed that the new characters played by Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon, and McKenna Grace do have a connection to the original characters in some way, and they don’t know it… at first. Who knows, maybe the footage they want to use will in some way involve Harold Ramis as Egon, which would be so cool!
The film is said to have an Amblin feel, and it’s been reported that it will “focus on a family who moves back home to a small town. While there, they begin to ‘learn more about who they are and the secrets of the town itself.’”
If there is unused footage being used in the new Ghostbusters movie, what do you think it will be used for?
Ghostbusters is slated to hit theaters on July 10th, 2020.