Ranker Spotlight: Ghostbusters: Afterlife

The 1984 film Ghostbusters remains one of the most beloved movies of all time, featuring smart comedy set against the backdrop of paranormal dread and a looming apocalypse. The premise — in which a bumbling group of “ghostbusters” are the world’s only hope — turned the $30 million film into a blockbuster that grossed nearly $300 million at the box office, spurring one 1989 sequel and years later a 2016 franchise reboot that lives outside the universe of the first two films.

But it’s the first film that keeps the franchise afloat, with Ghostbusters ranking #9 out of 1,436 of The Most Rewatchable Movies, wedged right between Die Hard and Shrek. And perhaps even more evidence of its enduring legacy, it ranks #67 out of a whopping 4,674 of The Best Movies Of All Time, ahead of The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, and Apocalypse Now. 

The 2016 film that departed from the original timeline got mixed reviews from critics and fans, so Sony Pictures has changed course a bit with its newest iteration, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, set for release on November 19, 2021. This time, the studio returns to the original Ghostbusters universe, with a story that largely centers on the grandkids of one of the original characters.

Will these kids carry on Grandpa’s ghostbusting legacy? Of course they will. The larger question is whether fans of the 1980s films (and perhaps some who reentered the world through the 2016 movie) will give the new version a spin. Let’s use Ranker data to look at the fanbase of the Ghostbusters franchise, and see what Sony and other stakeholders can learn about how to keep it alive for years to come.

How Ghostbusters Ranks on Ranker

Today, overall Ranker sentiment for Ghostbusters remains extremely high even decades later, at 71.8% positive (140,257 up votes) vs. 28.2% negative (54,994 down votes), with even more support in the US, where it polls at 80% or above everywhere except the Northeast, where it still has a 79% positive score. That’s impressive staying power, with voting sentiment steadily rising since April 2021 as promotion for Ghostbusters: Afterlife began to pick up. But fans are fickle: Ranker sentiment plummeted five years ago after the premiere of the Ghostbusters reboot, dropping from 68.3% positive in June to as low as 40.7% by August — almost certainly a function of mixed fan and critic reactions. If Sony wants to keep making Ghostbusters movies in the future, 2021’s iteration will likely need a better reception. But the studio can also take heart that sentiment for the franchise rose to June 2016 levels on Ranker by October of that year.

Early reviews suggest Sony found the right tone, comparing it to that of the first movie and commenting on some nostalgic fan service that could help bring multiple generations of moviegoers to the film. The first Ghostbusters didn’t take itself too seriously, which is perhaps why it lands at #2 out of 541 films ranked as The Greatest Guilty Pleasure Movies (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is #1). Also fueling the franchise’s longevity might be the funny one-liners people still reference today — and yes, Ghostbusters ranks very high (#5) as one of The Most Quotable Movies Of All Time. (If you want to memorize the best ones, click here.)

What Do Ghostbusters Fans Love?

To pull off a successful relaunch of the franchise this month, marketers must understand where Ghostbusters fans live, breathe, and work. In other words, Sony has to better target its audience and ensure its new spin on a beloved IP is successful. According to Ranker data, fans of the Ghostbusters franchise are partial to films like National Treasure, Beetlejuice, and The Lord of the Rings (7X), as well as 1980s cult classics like Labyrinth (6X) and The Neverending Story (5X). And they’re roughly twice as likely to love 1980s TV series like The A-Team, Knight Rider, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. (Interestingly, people who thought Ghostbusters was one of the most rewatchable movies also voted up Star Trek: The Next Generation as one of The Best TV Shows To Rewatch.)

Sony may also want to target the fan bases of similar 1980s fare. As referenced above, for example, fans of the original Ghostbusters and 1989’s Ghostbusters II are nearly 7X and 8X more likely to also love Beetlejuice, which while stylistically different also explores paranormal storylines from a comedic perspective. The 1991 flick The Addams Family (whose creepy and kooky animated reboot sequel premiered October 1) also shows promise as a cross-promotional vehicle, with original Ghostbusters fans 5X more likely to vote it up on a wide swath of Ranker lists. Other highly rated franchises that rate highly with Ghostbusters fans and are still alive today as continuations, reboots, or TV series: Raiders of the Lost Ark (6X), Gremlins (7X), Batman (5X), Die Hard (5X), Men in Black (5X), and many others that should give promoters plenty of fan bases to mine.

What about the Ghostbusters reboot from 2016? Well, people who loved that female-driven take on a rebooted universe present an entirely new marketing angle, with a somewhat eclectic mix of preferences, including a particular love of Disney movies ranging from 2017’s Beauty and the Beast (10X) to the 1975 flick The Apple Dumpling Gang (9X). Other strong movie correlations include Captain Marvel (10X) and A League of Their Own (9X), two female-driven movies from 2019 and 1992, respectively. Interesting, TV preferences for these fans range from Netflix’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance to the WB’s Angel (3X).  

It might also be smart to target fans across genres to promote the new flick. Consider that the original Ghostbusters ranks an impressive #28 out of 516 films listed as The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Of All Time. Whether or not most people consider Ghostbusters sci-fi, that’s a large fan base, and there seems to be a comedy/sci-fi bent in the 1980s that includes movies like Back to the Future, whose fans are nearly 7X more likely to like the original Ghostbusters, according to Ranker Insights. Plus, with the new take largely focusing on children who represent the next generation of Ghostbusters, why not hit up the massive global fan base of Netflix’s Stranger Things, whose fans are twice as likely to vote up Ghostbusters-related content?

The new Ghostbusters has plenty of opportunities to get the word out to fans young and old. Time will tell whether the movie’s premiere on Nov. 19 leads to a new era of Ghostbusters fandom.

These stories are crafted using Ranker Insights, which takes over one billion votes cast on Ranker.com and converts them into actionable psychographics about pop culture fans across the world. To learn more about how our Ranker Insights can be customized to serve your business needs, visit insights.ranker.com, or email us at insights@ranker.com.

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