Discuss all things Ghostbusters here, unless they would be better suited in one of the few forums below.
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By Kingpin
#4928929
It's been six years now since IDW publised Mars Attacks The Real Ghostbusters, a well-intended, if not particularly well-executed offering in their Mars Attacks crossover event.

Little did we know however, that Mars Attacks had encountered the Ghostbusters franchise as early as 1996.

A few folks here might know that Tim Burton utilised some stock footage of panicking crowds during the sequence showing the martians destroying several famous landmarks around the world (mostly from the 1976 remake of King Kong), but this little snippet, just before they start levelling London looked a bit familiar:


https://youtu.be/ngqOmNWVke0

It's not immediately obvious, but take note of the white structure which dominates the top-right corner of the shot. Now watch this:


https://youtu.be/PvZgWvqv3r0

-The shot rather stands out as stock footage due to all the winter gear the people are wearing. Combine that with the darkness, and what I believe to be a late 80's model New York taxi disappearing off of the right-hand side of the screen, I think the two shots can be linked together - with the Mars Attacks! section being a earlier part of the reel of the Washington Square ghost sequence of Ghostbusters II's "Flip City" montage.
mrmichaelt, SSJmole, Alex Newborn and 2 others liked this
#4928961
WELL spotted, Kingpin! <APPLAUSE, APPLAUSE>

I think I found that exact clip, as confirmation.

Go to Spook Central's page on the 'stock footage' from GB2.

https://www.theraffon.net/~spookcentral/gb2_stock.htm

Scroll down to "Washington Square Park Crowd" and click on the first video in that section, "6142-013 Evacuation".

About 18 seconds into the video, you should see the same moment in time of an extra clambering over a stopped car, as seen in the Mars Attacks! clip above.

(Watch through to the very end, and see one extra get into a shoving match with another!)

The Mars Attacks version is a little more widescreen, but it looks to be the exact same take.

How you spotted that in the wild, I will never know. Mind blown!

EDIT: I cut them together for easier comparison.



https://youtu.be/HMrATOHjjWU

Alex
deadderek, Kingpin, Sav C liked this
#4928968
Alex Newborn wrote: December 15th, 2019, 8:38 amHow you spotted that in the wild, I will never know. Mind blown!
I think it was the combination of the clothing the crowd was wearing, the lighting, and the chunk of Washington Square Arch.

I also think the way my mind's wired it helps me remember buildings and inanimate objects more vividly in some instances.
Alex Newborn liked this
#4929001
I mentioned this discovery to Paul Rudoff at Spook Central, in case he wanted to add a footnote to the Stock Footage page linked above.

He'd actually spotted the same clip in Mars Attacks! when he bought the Blu-Ray, and had made some notes to do a piece on it, but said he figured since the movie had gone 23 years without anyone beating him to the punch, there was no rush, and he got busy with other updates.

Alex
Kingpin liked this

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