Jason Reitman Unearths 1984 Ghostbusters Footage for New Movie

Ghostbusters 3 writer-director Jason Reitman cryptically teases unearthed footage from the 1984 movie, directed by father Ivan Reitman, will be repurposed for the franchise’s coming third installment.

“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,” Reitman said during Ghostbusters Fan Fest.

“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.”

The Reitmans then unveiled dailies showing the team — Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis), and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) — quarreling with stuffy Walter Peck (William Atherton) within the office of the Mayor (David Margulies) during the famed “mass hysteria” scene.

In a new line, when Peck accuses the Ghostbusters of being frauds who use nerve gas to induce hallucinations among the spooked population, Spengler says plainly, “If we needed nerve gas, we’d make it ourselves.”

“Those are original dailies. That’s stuff that didn’t make the film,” the younger Reitman said before quizzing his father. “Okay, first question: how do you not put the nerve gas joke in it? That’s amazing.”

Reitman didn’t hint what purpose the uncovered footage holds for the new film, but the filmmaker has assembled a think tank of creative forces who helped realize the original Ghostbusters to ensure “that we make the right film.”

“Going into making this film, we wanted to make a love letter to the original movie,” Reitman said, later teasing a new family at the center of the sequel (Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon) has a mysterious connection to the 1984 film.

The above scene and other never-before-seen footage is included on the Ghostbusters & Ghostbusters II anniversary 4K Ultra HD steelbook set available June 11.

Sony will open Ghostbusters 3 July 10, 2020.