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Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Easter Eggs
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was recently released on physical disc media in the United States in the following formats: Standard 4K+Blu-ray Combo Pack, Steelbook 4K+Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray+DVD Combo Pack, and Individual DVD. To celebrate, let's take a look at some of the Easter eggs found in the movie.
Let's be clear, these are hidden details and references in the movie itself, not "DVD Easter Eggs". This list is mostly in movie order, though the first one is placed first to make it more noticeable. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list, as I wanted to leave some things for you to find, but it is quite lengthy. This first one was found by me, Paul Rudoff. The others were found by MrMichaelT (via the list he added to the Ghostbusters Wiki's Trivia section), and the "Easter Eggs Unleashed" featurette from the Blu-ray.
Now that I've gotten all of that out of the way, let's get this started...
Ghostbusters has had a long history of featuring the children of the cast and crew in small roles or cameo appearances. It should have started in the 1984 original film, as a scene was filmed featuring Ivan Reitman's wife Genevieve Robert carrying their children, Jason and Catherine, out of the haunted Shandor Building. The footage was never used in the final film, but nearly 40 years later, Jason would insert the footage into his own Ghostbusters film, Afterlife.
To make up for deleting them from the first film, Ivan made sure to include Jason and Catherine in the sequel, Ghostbusters II. Jason is the kid at the birthday party who tells Ray that his father thinks the Ghostbusters are "full of crap". Catherine is one of Egon's test subjects; the little girl with the puppy.
That misguided Ghostbusters parody from 2016 features Harold Ramis' children. His son Daniel is the "Metalhead" who appears behind Rowan outside the concert yelling, "Ozzy rules!" His daughter Violet, holding her son Harold, is standing with Paul Feig outside the firehouse when the ladies first see the place. Harold isn't the only ghostbuster to have his children in one of the films. Stella Aykroyd, one of Dan's daughters, plays Deputy Medjuck in Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
Frozen Empire continues the tradition. Jason's daughter, Josephine, is one of the teens in the Ferris Wheel cabin at Coney Island. She's the only girl among the four teens, so I believe that's her saying, "What is that?".
Josephine confirmed her uncredited appearance by posting some behind-the-scenes photos from the filming that took place at the Winnersh Studios in the United Kingdom.
It's well-known that there was more footage filmed of the teens on the ride as the Death Chill descends upon Coney Island, as additional footage appears in the first teaser/trailer. It makes one wonder if Josephine had more lines and a better close-up.
As the firefighters in 1904 head towards the Manhattan Adventurers Society, they drive past a cargo carriage bearing the name "U. Tully & Son Haulage Co." The company is named after Louis Tully, the character played by Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters.
When Trevor opens the Remote Trap Vehicle, a Liberty Mutual Insurance billboard is seen on a nearby building. Liberty Mutual, one of the film's sponsors, aired commercials featuring the Mini-Pufts terrorizing the city and spokes-character Doug's car. Later in the film, the possessed paper airplane is made of a Liberty Mutual statement.
Before the rental bicycles are rammed by Gary, the Ecto-1 takes a hard right turn in front of the Manhattan Municipal Building...
...which was used as the City Hall Loading Dock in Ghostbusters.
Those aforementioned rental bicycles are sponsored by Manhattan City Bank, the financial institution where Ray obtained the mortgage that was used to fund the business. Manhattan City Bank appears several times throughout the film. Another one of these teal-colored bikes is seen at the start of the Sewer Dragon chase. A man rides one past the firehouse when the building makes its first appearance. There is a Manhattan City Bank sticker on the Ray's Occult counter. There is a Manhattan City Bank sign on a frozen column behind the cab in the scene when the street freezes.
Lots of vintage footage is shown during the Spectrum News NY1 news report about the mess caused by the Sewer Dragon chase. Actual 1985 news footage showing items from the Official Ghostbusters Fan Club.
A clip from the 1986 commercial for Ralston-Purina's Ghostbusters cereal is shown. Click on the image below to view the whole commercial.
A clip from the 1989 "Backyard Camping" commercial for Kenner's The Real Ghostbusters role-play toys is shown. Click on the image below to view the whole commercial. (The Ray Parker Jr. music video is also shown, but that is quite obvious, so I don't see a need to spotlight it.)
There is a Ghostbusters II Thermal Mug, from the company's commercial, on the middle shelf in the kitchen.
Gary finds a VHS copy of Cannibal Girls, which is a 1973 film directed by Ivan Reitman about a young couple (played by Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin) who spend the night in an old farmhouse that is home to beautiful women who hunger after human flesh.
This is not the first time that Cannibal Girls has been referenced in the Ghostbusters universe. It was shown at the Movieland theater in Ghostbusters II.
The theater in Summerville in Ghostbusters: Afterlife was also showing the film.
The two arcades on the second floor of the firehouse, Missile Command (1980) and Star Castle (1980), were lent to the production by the Arcade Club in Bury, United Kingdom.
Both machines appeared in the first movie.
Thanks to set decorator Luke Whitelock, here is a better look at the arcade machines.
The MEDRAD Mark IV Angiographic Injector from the Paranormal Studies Laboratory in the first movie is present in the basement. It also appeared in Egon's secret lab in Afterlife.
Phoebe enters Ray's Occult carrying a jar of mood slime, which first appeared in Ghostbusters II. In the scene, Ray is reading the paperback version of "Strange But True - The World's Weirdest Newspaper Stories", a real book from 1984 edited by Tim Healey.
Atop one of the bookcases in the Ray's Occult basement is Ray's hardhat...
...from the First Avenue excavation in Ghostbusters II.
Above Podcast's bed are photographs that he took during the events of Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
The stop sign Muncher took a bite of, Phoebe walking up the path to the farmhouse after she agreed to be his lab partner, and several from his encounter with the Mini-Pufts in Ecto-1.
Lying on the floor in the firehouse attic are copies of the Omni magazine featuring the Proton Pack on the cover that was seen during the montage in the first film. (The cardboard boxes next to it contain the balloons that accompany the Ghostbusters II thermal mugs, as well as the light blue No Ghost logo T-shirts seen at the end of the first movie, but they aren't seen in the final film - only in the "Headlines" deleted scene.)
Hidden in the dark recesses of the attic is the original "Ghostbusters" sign...
...that Marty was installing in Ghostbusters.
Thanks to executive producer Eric Reich, here is a better look at the sign.
Slimer's nest has an empty Stay Puft Marshmallows bag, as well as wrappers from Airheads, Cheetos, Oreos, Jell-O, and Nature's Bakery.
Phoebe sets up a chess game at Washington Square Park. Later, the Death Chill would be seen creeping through the famous arch at the park, which appeared in the "Flip City" montage in Ghostbusters II. (The chess scene was actually filmed at Russell Square in London.)
The red shirt that Phoebe wears, during the introduction of Lars and the Paranormal Research Center, has circular patterns on them inspired by the side of the Proton Pack.
On Janine's desk in the firehouse are the whale paperweight from the first movie and the phone from the second movie.
Trevor sets a food trap for Slimer similar to a deleted scene in Ghostbusters II when Louis tried to trap Slimer using fried chicken.
In the paranormal Research Center, as Lars grabs the brass orb with a grabber claw, a scientist in the background uses a Slime Blower from Ghostbusters II.
As confirmed in his audio commentary, the cat drawing on Nadeem's apartment door was drawn by director Gil Kenan immediately before the camera rolled. The front door features the cat's face (with the peephole making the "nose"), while the reverse side of the door features the cat's rear end (with the peephole making the "anus"). The reverse side is best seen when Garraka freezes the door over.
The video game shown on the television in Nadeem's apartment was confirmed by Gil Kenan in the audio commentary to be the "PlayStation 5 version" of "Thou Art Dead", a fictitious video game seen in Gil's earlier film, Monster House (2006).
The Aura Video-Analyzer (aka "colander hat"), connected to a Commodore PET 2001 Series personal computer, is used on Nadeem. The Aura Video-Analyzer was previously found by Podcast in Afterlife, and was used on Louis in Ghostbusters.
Roger Delacorte (played by John Rothman) from the first movie is standing outside the New York Public Library trying, in vain, to bar Ray from entering the building.
Here is a photo of John Rothman, with Mckenna Grace and Logan Kim, on the set. It was posted on John's Facebook page.
The Library Ghost from the first movie has a cameo in the stacks. For her first form, visual effects producer Nicole Rowley found a 70mm reel containing raw and pristine unused takes of Ruth Oliver performing the scene of the ghost shushing Peter. That original footage was used to create the new performance seen in Frozen Empire.
On the steps of the New York Public Library is an advertisement board with a reference to Dana Barrett as part of a cello concerto by the Five Boroughs Symphony Orchestra.
Thanks to set decorator Luke Whitelock, here is a better look at the sign.
Director Gil Kenan is the voice of Garraka, which is reminiscent of Ivan Reitman voicing Zuul (and Slimer) in the first movie. Gil also provided the sounds of Possessor moving between objects.
"Your world will shatter. Bones and ice. My empire will rise."
The Ghostbusters II charcoal flightsuits appear in Ray and Winston's lockers when they suit up. The charcoal flight suits were loaned by the Yes Have Some podcast during re-shoots in Georgia in December 2023.
There is a Booking.com advertisement on top of the taxicab in the scene where the city freezes as the ghosts are freed from the containment unit. Earlier, in Ray's Occult, Podcast mentions Booking.com when he rented Ray's basement. Booking.com, one of the film's sponsors, created a tie-in promotional website and online video advertisements.
At the end of the movie, a few of the people in the crowd outside the firehouse have the blue No Ghost shirts...
...that the crowd had at the end of the first movie.
Someone in that same crowd shouts out to Mayor Walter Peck, "Hey, how about you thank them, dickless!" Of course, this is a reference to the exchange between the Ghostbusters and Walter Peck in the Mayor's office in the first film.
Well, that's it. I'll leave the rest for you to find.
If you still have not bought Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire on physical disc (so that you can actually own it), Amazon has it on Standard 4K+Blu-ray, Steelbook 4K+Blu-ray (Parkas & Gear), Blu-ray+DVD, and DVD.
There are also sets containing Afterlife and Frozen Empire: 4K+Blu-ray with Ice Mold, Blu-ray, and DVD.
Finally, Walmart has a few exclusives: Steelbook Blu-ray+DVD (Pop Art Style), and 4K+Blu-Ray with Skateboard.
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