The Underground cinema in Toronto is the home to a unique screening series, called Defending the Indefensible. The premise is that a “bad” movie is chosen, bad meaning there is some big failing about them, yet they managed to not entirely explode. And as well as getting to watch the movie, the audience is treated to Toronoto area movie critics doing their best to defend the film.
This week, Ghostbusters 2 is on the agenda, and while some have started warming up their defense, the man who programs the films for the series, Andrew Parker, has written an ESSAY on the events that lead to the making of Ghostbusters 2 – and speaking as someone that actually enjoys Ghostbusters 2, depending on your definition of “failure”, he’s not wrong. For example, he lays out the money that went into the film versus the money that came out. Looking at it like that, GB2 was by no means the cash-cow it was intended to be.
He also puts the blame for their being no Ghostbusters 3 yet, in spite of all the script writing, etc., on Ivan Reitman, as it was Reitman’s contract renegotiation prior to making GB2 that made him the only director possible, and no movie could get made without the direct involvement of the principle actors. Really, it’s a solid read for anybody interested in the film industry and in particular that making of both Ghostbusters film.
