Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex · Library of Congress. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Ghostbusters II arrived in 1989 as Columbia Pictures' answer to five years of audience demand following the original's box office triumph. Directed by Ivan Reitman and reuniting the core cast, the sequel found the team estranged and broke, drawn back into service by a river of pink slime beneath Manhattan. While reviews were mixed compared to the first film, it remained a major studio event, cementing the Ghostbusters as an enduring franchise property and keeping Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson together on screen one more time.
This cell brings together the full quartet: Egon Spengler, Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore, the assembled unit whose chemistry defines the series. A frame holding all four is prized by collectors precisely because it represents the team as a whole rather than a single performance, a quick visual shorthand for reunion and camaraderie central to the sequel's plot. Such a piece likely comes from a moment of shared screen time, gathering, or ensemble presence, the kind of imagery studios favored for trailers and promotional cuts to signal that the original crew was back together.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Ghostbusters II (1989).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, evenly spaced; punched holes appear clean and rectangular with rounded corners, consistent with standard 35mm pitch.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area; the track shows a dual bilateral wave pattern consistent with a stereo optical print.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to quote characters reliably.
Base & colour
Base appears with a warm yellow-amber tint typical of processed color print stock; dye image reads as a positive with no obvious red shift or significant fading visible.
Projection history
Light longitudinal lines are visible in the soundtrack area consistent with projection wear; no splices or cue marks seen.
Picture
Positive color image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, and the interior setting and period costuming are consistent with a late-1980s studio release matching the film on record.
Era check
The dual bilateral variable-area optical soundtrack, warm-base color print stock, and standard 35mm four-perforation frame pitch are all consistent with a theatrical release print from 1989.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000063285
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
