Plot
The four leads are Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig), a physicist seeking tenure at Columbia University; Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy), Erin's former research partner in the study of the paranormal; Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), an eccentric engineer who builds the team's equipment; and Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones), a New York City transit worker with deep knowledge of the city. Years earlier, Erin and Abby co-authored a book arguing that ghosts are real, work Erin had since tried to distance herself from to protect her academic standing. The pair reunite when reports of paranormal activity around New York draw them back together.
Investigating a haunting at a historic mansion museum, the women encounter a full-bodied apparition and confirm that ghosts exist. They set up shop, first above a Chinese restaurant and later in a firehouse, and hire Kevin Beckman (Chris Hemsworth), a strikingly inept receptionist. As they refine their proton-based equipment, they discover that the surge in hauntings is not random. Rowan North (Neil Casey), a disturbed loner, is planting devices across the city at points along ley lines to weaken the barrier between the world of the living and the world of the dead, intending to unleash a ghost invasion.
The team's growing public profile draws the attention of city officials, who privately accept that the threat is real while publicly dismissing the women as frauds to avoid panic. Rowan's plan culminates in a tear in reality over Times Square that releases a flood of spirits into Manhattan. After Rowan dies and crosses over, he returns in spectral form, eventually taking the shape of a giant figure based on the Ghostbusters' own logo. The four women fight back through the portal he has opened, defeat him, and seal the rift, saving the city.
Development
Sony Pictures pursued a new Ghostbusters film for several years before settling on Feig's approach. On August 2, 2014, trade reports identified Paul Feig as the studio's leading choice to direct a reboot built around a team of female Ghostbusters, with a script to be written from scratch. Ivan Reitman, who had directed the original films, confirmed in September that he had met with Feig and would remain on the project as a producer. On October 8, 2014, Feig announced through Twitter that he was officially attached as director and would co-write the screenplay with Katie Dippold, his collaborator on the comedy Spy.
In interviews around the announcement, Feig described being approached by Sony and Reitman while he was in Budapest shooting Spy. After returning to the United States and meeting with Sony co-chairman Amy Pascal, he developed the idea of an all-female cast in a present-day setting where the existence of ghosts is not yet accepted. He framed the project as a restart and an origin story, noting that the film might include nods and cameos tied to the earlier movies while treating the broader continuity as open.
Internal Sony communications that surfaced during the company's 2014 data breach showed that executives had earlier weighed how to connect a new film to the original franchise, and that several actresses, including Melissa McCarthy, had expressed interest. By late January 2015, McCarthy had signed on, with Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones in negotiations; Sony set an initial release date of July 22, 2016, later moved up one week to July 15. In February 2015, Dan Aykroyd confirmed he would serve as an executive producer and contribute to the script.
Casting continued through the first half of 2015. Chris Hemsworth joined in June as the team's receptionist, and Neil Casey was cast as the villain Rowan in July. The supporting cast came to include Andy Garcia as the mayor of New York, Michael Kenneth Williams and Matt Walsh as federal agents, Charles Dance as a university dean, and Cecily Strong as a city official. Feig stated that he wanted genuinely frightening ghosts at the center of the film and a grounded, workplace-comedy tone, and that he favored practical effects with as little computer-generated imagery as practical. Reports during development indicated that the budget, originally set higher under Amy Pascal, was reduced after Tom Rothman took over Sony's film operations, prompting script adjustments to control costs.
Cameo appearances by veterans of the earlier films were arranged over the course of production. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts, and Ernie Hudson each appear as new characters rather than reprising their original roles; Potts plays a hotel desk clerk and Weaver appears as Holtzmann's mentor. Rick Moranis declined an invitation to appear, explaining that he did not see the appeal of a single day's shooting on a project so far removed from his earlier work. Feig also confirmed that members of the late Harold Ramis's family would appear in the film.
Filming
Principal photography began on June 18, 2015, in the Boston area and concluded on September 19, 2015, in New York City. The production used the code name Flapjack. Feig confirmed early on that interior work would be based in Boston while a number of exteriors would be shot in New York.
A large share of the shoot took place in and around Boston, which served as the base for interior work and many exteriors. Locations included the former Everett High School, which was dressed as a New York middle school and draped with banners for the fictional science institute, along with sites in Malden and downtown Boston. The first set photos to surface, in mid-June 2015, showed Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, and Kate McKinnon in costume outside the Everett school. A building near Harrison Avenue and Essex Street was dressed as a Chinese restaurant for the team's first headquarters, and in July the production leased a former naval air station at SouthField, where a large aircraft hangar served as a green-screen and special-effects stage. The Castle at Boston University stood in for the historic mansion museum seen early in the film, and the Ames Mansion at Borderland State Park in Easton was used for additional mansion scenes.
The production moved to New York City in September 2015 for exterior photography, concentrated in Lower Manhattan and Midtown. The Ecto-1 and a two-wheeled companion vehicle, Ecto-2, were photographed around Tribeca, Chambers Street, and the area south of Central Park, with Wiig seen driving the car. Filming also took place near Columbia University in Morningside Heights. Feig announced that principal photography had wrapped on September 19, 2015, sharing a photo taken at the firehouse used in the original films, and Ernie Hudson shot his cameo on set that day.
Feig has said he shot the film digitally because he needed long, continuous takes for the improvisational comedy, and that the team worked long days without a meal break. He shot extensively with practical effects, including slime developed through a process he described as testing many formulas and thicknesses before settling on a recipe. Chris Hemsworth completed his scenes in late August 2015, and various cameo performers, including Aykroyd, filmed their parts during the shoot. Dan Aykroyd's cameo, reported as a taxi driver who tells one of the leads "I ain't afraid of no ghosts," was filmed in July 2015.
Post-production
Editing and post-production stretched into the first half of 2016. Feig finished an early cut in November 2015 and began test screening a version in March 2016. The film went through extensive recutting: a cameo by Sigourney Weaver was removed from an earlier version and then restored to the final cut, and a musical number was dropped because it was not working. A scheduled day and a half of reshoots took place in downtown Los Angeles in early May 2016, where performers were photographed on rigs operating proton equipment in mid-air. Additional dialogue replacement sessions and further test screenings continued through late May, and members of the original cast viewed the completed film in early June 2016. Adam Ray voiced the rebooted Slimer, and Robin Shelby voiced a counterpart character.
Release
Ghostbusters opened in the United States on July 15, 2016. Sony promoted the film with a 28-second teaser trailer on February 13, 2016, followed by a full trailer in early March. Feig noted in interviews that the title displayed at the end of the theatrical release was Ghostbusters: Answer the Call, a choice intended to give the film a distinct catalog identity without placing the longer name on the opening titles.
The film was released widely overseas through July and August 2016, often under localized titles such as SOS Fantômes in French-speaking territories and variations of Cazafantasmas across Latin America and Spain. A soundtrack album was issued through RCA Records on the film's opening day, featuring artists including Fall Out Boy with Missy Elliott, G-Eazy, 5 Seconds of Summer, Pentatonix, and Elle King, whose single "Good Girls" served as a lead track. Theodore Shapiro's score was released separately on July 8, 2016.
The film was released for home viewing later in 2016. Sony announced a digital release on September 27 and a physical release of 4K, 3D, and standard Blu-ray editions on October 11, 2016. The home versions included an extended cut and more than an hour of additional extended and alternate scenes, among them a deleted sequence introducing a love interest for Erin played by Justin Kirk.
Box office
Pre-release tracking in June 2016 projected an opening weekend of roughly $40 million to $50 million in the United States. The film grossed about $3.4 million from Thursday previews and went on to a reported opening weekend of $46.5 million, with $17.2 million earned on its first Friday. It opened in first place in several international markets, including the United Kingdom and Australia.
In its second weekend the film earned $21.6 million, bringing its domestic total to about $86.8 million and its worldwide total to roughly $122 million at that point. By early August 2016, trade reports placed the domestic gross near $117 million and the worldwide gross around $180 million, and described the film as heading for a substantial loss for Sony, with one widely cited estimate of more than $70 million. Sony disputed that figure, arguing that consumer products, gaming, location-based entertainment, continued international release, and promotional partnerships materially offset the costs.
The film's budget was also a point of public dispute. A July 2016 report put production costs at $144 million with an additional $140 million spent on marketing. Sony rejected the $144 million production figure as inflated. It was later reported that a financing partner, LSC Film Corp., had withdrawn its backing, said to be a quarter of the budget, about a month before production began.
Reception
The film drew unusually heavy attention before release, and its reception was sharply divided. The decision to recast the lead roles with women and to restart the franchise outside the original continuity generated extended public debate from the time the project was announced through its theatrical run. In their post-release comments, Sony executives presented the film as a successful revival of the brand, while trade coverage focused on its financial performance and the studio's prospects for a follow-up.
Legacy
The film restarted the Ghostbusters brand with a fresh cast and continuity rather than continuing the original storyline, and Sony executives publicly characterized the launch as having successfully revived the property. In the period immediately after release, the studio and the filmmakers spoke about the possibility of a sequel: Feig said he had a story in mind and would be open to continuing, while screenwriter Katie Dippold and Sony distribution executives expressed interest without committing to a follow-up. A direct sequel to the 2016 film was not produced. The franchise instead returned to the continuity of the original movies with Ghostbusters: Afterlife in 2021.
