Editing Ghostbusters (section)

=== Development ===
[[File:Ivan Reitman with prop from Ghostbusters (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=Photograph of director Ivan Reitman at a red carpet event with photographers behind him | Director [[Ivan Reitman]] (pictured in 1984) contributed ideas to the ''Ghostbusters'' script and helped secure its funding.]]
''Ghostbusters'' was inspired by Dan Aykroyd's fascination with and belief in the paranormal,<ref name="AFI" /><ref name="VanityFair2014" /> which he inherited from his father, who later wrote the book ''A History of Ghosts'';<ref name="THR2016" /> his mother, who claimed to have seen ghosts; his grandfather, who experimented with radios to contact the dead; and his great-grandfather, a renowned [[Spiritualism (movement)|spiritualist]]. In 1981, Aykroyd read an article on [[quantum physics]] and parapsychology in ''[[The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research]]'', which gave him the idea of trapping ghosts. He was also drawn to the idea of modernizing the comedic ghost films of the mid-20th century by comics such as [[Abbott and Costello]] (''[[Hold That Ghost]]'', 1941), [[Bob Hope]] (''[[The Ghost Breakers]]'', 1940) and [[the Bowery Boys]] (''[[Ghost Chasers]]'', 1951).<ref name="VanityFair2014" /><ref name="Esquire" />

Aykroyd wrote the script, intending to star alongside [[Eddie Murphy]] and his close friend and fellow ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' (''SNL'') alumnus [[John Belushi]], before Belushi's accidental death in March 1982.<ref name="AFI" /><ref name="VanityFair2014" /> Aykroyd recalled writing one of Belushi's lines when producer and talent agent [[Bernie Brillstein]] called to inform him of Belushi's death.<ref name="VanityFair2014" /> He turned to another former ''SNL'' castmate, Bill Murray, who agreed to join without an explicit agreement, which is how he often worked.<ref name="VanityFair2014" /> Aykroyd pitched his concept to Brillstein as three men who chase ghosts and included a sketch of the Marshmallow Man character he had imagined. He likened the Ghostbusters to pest-control workers, saying that "calling a Ghostbuster was just like getting rats removed".<ref name="Esquire" /> Aykroyd believed Ivan Reitman was the logical choice to direct, based on his successes with films such as ''[[Animal House]]'' (1978) and ''[[Stripes (film)|Stripes]]'' (1981).<ref name="VanityFair2014" /> Reitman was aware of the film's outline while Belushi was still a prospective cast member; this version took place in the future with many groups of intergalactic ghostbusters, and felt it "would have cost something like $200{{nbsp}}million to make".<ref name="Esquire" />{{efn|The estimated $200{{nbsp}}million required to realize Dan Aykroyd's original vision for ''Ghostbusters'' is equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|200000000|1983}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}.}} Aykroyd's original 70- to 80-page [[film treatment|script treatment]] was more serious in tone and intended to be scary.<ref name="VanityFair2014" /><ref name="Esquire" />

Reitman met with Aykroyd at Art's Delicatessen in [[Studio City, Los Angeles]], and explained that his concept would be impossible to make. He suggested that setting it entirely on Earth would make the extraordinary elements funnier, and that focusing on realism from the beginning would make the Marshmallow Man more believable by the end. He also wanted to portray the Ghostbusters' origins before starting their business: "This was beginning of the 1980s—everyone was going into business".<ref name="VanityFair2014" /><ref name="Esquire" /> After the meeting, they met Harold Ramis at [[Warner Bros. Studios Burbank|Burbank Studios]]. Reitman had worked with Ramis on previous films and believed he could better execute the tone he intended for the script than Aykroyd.<ref name="Esquire" /> He also felt Ramis should play a Ghostbuster. After reading the script, Ramis joined the project immediately.<ref name="VanityFair2014" />

Although the script required considerable changes, Reitman pitched the film to [[Columbia Pictures]] executive [[Frank Price]] in March 1983. Price found the concept funny, but was unsure of the project, as comedies were seen to have limited profitability. He said the film would take a big budget due to its special effects and popular cast.<ref name="VanityFair2014" /><ref name="Esquire" /> Reitman reportedly said they could work with $25–30&nbsp;million;{{efn|The 1984 budget of $25–30&nbsp;million is equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|25000000|1983}}}}–${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|30000000|1983}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}.}} varying figures have been cited. Price agreed, as long as the film could be released by June 1984.<ref name="VanityFair2014" /><ref name="THR2016" /> Reitman later admitted he made up the figure, basing it on three times the budget for ''Stripes'', which seemed "reasonable".<ref name="VanityFair2014" /> This left 13 months to complete the film, with no finished script, effects studio, or filming start date.<ref name="THR2016" /> Reitman hired his previous collaborators [[Joe Medjuck]] and [[Michael C. Gross]] as [[Film producer|associate producers]].{{sfn|McCabe|2016|p=18}} Columbia's CEO [[Fay Vincent]] sent his lawyer Dick Gallop to Los Angeles to convince Price not to pursue the film, but Price disagreed. Gallop returned to the head office to report that Price was "out of control".<ref name="VanityFair2014" /><ref name="Esquire" />

As the title "Ghostbusters" was legally restricted by the 1970s children's show ''[[The Ghost Busters]]'', owned by [[Universal Studios, Inc.|Universal Studios]], several alternative titles were considered, including "Ghoststoppers", "Ghostbreakers", and "Ghostsmashers".<ref name="VanityFair2014" /><ref name="Collider2013" /><ref name="TelegraphJun16" /> Price parted ways with Columbia early in ''Ghostbusters''{{'}} production and became head of [[Universal Pictures]], at which point he sold Columbia the title for $500,000 plus 1% of the film's profits. Given [[Hollywood accounting|Hollywood's accounting]] practices—used by studios to artificially inflate a film's production costs to limit royalty or tax payouts—the film technically never made a profit for Universal to be owed a payment.<ref name="Esquire" /><ref name="Collider2013" /><ref name="AtlanticAccounting" />