Return of Shot on Site Summer - Ghostbusters 2016 Locations, Part 9 (Deleted & BTS Locations)

Welcome to Spook Central's continuing Return of Shot on Site Summer event wherein we take a look at all of the filming locations for Paul Feig's 2016 Ghostbusters (aka Ghostbusters: Answer The Call). Every Sunday - henceforth dubbed Shot on Site Sundays - at Noon (Eastern) for several weeks (all parts available here in reverse order), we will go through the entire movie from start to finish telling and showing you where everything was filmed in or around Boston, Massachusetts; with a great deal of quick shots in Manhattan, New York; and one spot in Los Angeles, California. We will be utilizing the Theatrical and Extended cuts of the movie from the Blu-ray, as that provides the most locations than just the Theatrical Cut alone. With that in mind, SPOILER WARNING if you read any further... though I suspect that whomever wants to see the movie already has, and those who want to avoid it won't care. Those in the latter camp have probably stopped reading this post already. That's cool. There's lots of material on Spook Central about the original movies and animated series for you to look at.

The majority of locations were identified and researched by Matthew Jordan back in 2016, way before anyone else did it. Secondary thanks go to all of the fine folks on the internet who documented the filming of the movie in 2015, which helped in Matt's research. A few locations were identified by me (Paul Rudoff) and MrMichaelT. The title graphic seen at the top was created by Matthew Jordan, based on an idea by Paul Rudoff. Now that that's out of the way, let us continue...

We concluded our rundown of the movie last week, but we're not done just yet! Today, we'll take a look at some deleted shots that appeared in the various trailers and TV spots, as well as some behind-the-scenes photos that fans took while the movie was filming in Boston and New York. We have tried our best to provide proper credit for the images used, but sources were not always kept when these photos were originally gathered two years ago. So, much apologies to those we have not credited. Also, go check out the Ghostbusters Reboot Facebook page to see my revelation of a different Times Square and an alternate Patty Walks The Halls shot.


U.S. Trailer #1 features this Ecto-1 shot that would have been used in the film when they travel to the Stonebrook Theater.


Of course, any Ghosthead worth their salt recognizes that as the arch at Washington Square Park in Manhattan. A ghost was hanging out there in the "Flip City" montage in Ghostbusters II.


At the very start of the "Meet The Team" featurette from the Blu-ray, there is a shot of the Ecto-1 that probably also would have been used when they travel to the Stonebrook Theater.



The car is driving past 879 (Camera & Luggage) to 871 (Wellington Hotel) 7th Avenue in Manhattan. This is directly across the street from the Park Central hotel that Kevin rode the Ecto-2 motorcycle past in the movie. Obviously, they filmed both shots in the same day.


Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of this shot, courtesy of this video by NuzzyFuzzy.




One common shot of the Ecto-1 driving at night appears in nearly everything, though we first saw it in U.S. Trailer #1. While the frequently used portion of the shot is from the side/front, in the "Ecto-1" vignette (released June 8, 2016) we see that the shot goes on for a bit longer with the camera moving to the front of the vehicle.



The car passes by Brasserie Cognac at 1740 Broadway in Manhattan. This is the same spot as that Bank/Parking Garage/Applejack Diner Ecto-1 shot, only from the opposite direction, and focusing on the opposite side of the street. That gives us an idea where this would have been seen in the movie: When the team is driving towards the Mercado for the final showdown, but before they get stopped by Slimer.



Next we have two successive shots that, likely, would have been from the same scene in the movie. However, since they were filmed in two vastly different places, I'll tackle them separately. In the movie, as Abby, Jillian, and Patty drive to the Mercado, they don't encounter much resistance until Slimer's roadblock. Originally, that wasn't to be the case. Before they got to Slimer, they would have had to make their way through the throngs of panicked people crowding the streets. This shot, and close-up of Patty yelling that follows (more on that in a bit), came from TV Spot #29: "Stop It" (released July 4, 2016) (also used in TV Spot #28: "Unleash The Dead") and the "Jokes A Plenty: The Patty Show" featurette from the Blu-ray.


Hard to believe, but it's not Boston! The details are a little fuzzy since we only have a re-compressed YouTube video to work with (because Sony never put the TV Spots on their press site, which I had access to), but it's easy to see the distinctive United States Postal Service blue and white "sonic eagle" logo on the left. New Yorkers like me will also recognize the "Ben's" deli logo in the top middle. That was enough to pinpoint this as 242 West 38th Street in Manhattan. (UPDATE 3/10/2020 - I visited this location in person; read about that here.)


As they try to plow through the crowd (100 points if they run over the elderly), Patty sticks her head out of the window and yells, "Move out the way, y'all gonna die!".


This part of the scene was filmed back in Boston. In real life, it's right at the spot where Slimer carjacks the Ecto-1 and Erin gets rejected by cabbie. The Ecto-1 is on the crosswalk on Hawes Street and Water Street in Boston. The building in the background on the left of the shot is Fisique, and Pita Thymes is on the right.


Just like the night Ecto-1 shot, a close-up of some ghostly 1920s people is seen in nearly everything, such as U.S. Trailer #1. Though it doesn't technically appear in the film, you can glimpse the people as spectators to the ghostly Thanksgiving Day parade late in the movie.


The parade spectators are standing right where the parade manifests, at the intersection of Federal Street and Milk Street in Boston. As evident by the behind the scenes footage and the final shot only seen in the trailers, when the parade manifested, the camera was to have moved in on a close-up of the spectators. While they are seen below the balloons in the final film, there are no close-ups of them and they play no part in the scene.




Thanks to this video by NuzzyFuzzy, we know that the filmmakers originally filmed some footage of the Ecto-1 rounding Columbus Circle; the site of Stay Puft's walkabout. Sadly, none of that footage was used in the movie, or even appeared in any of the trailers and TV spots. It's likely it would have been used in the already overcrowded Stonebrook driving montage, as that seems to be where they put all of the "car drives past original Ghostbusters filming location" shots.




Here we see the body doubles as the getaway drivers for an unscripted bank heist!


This is actually a block away from Columbus Circle, in front of Steelcase at 983 West 8th Avenue in Manhattan. The car was parked here getting ready to do a nighttime Columbus Circle shot, most likely.


The body doubles grab a bite to eat.


That's the McDonald's at 1651 Broadway in Manhattan.


Columbia Spectator posted this photo of the doubles in Ecto-1 outside Columbia University's Alfred Lerner Hall at 2920 Broadway in Manhattan.


Bowery Boogie took this photo of the car in Chinatown.


They're at Eldridge Street near East Broadway in Manhattan, right where they filmed a few other shots.


Ivotres/Ivy (Instagram user "Nerdtastic_Girl") posted this photo showing the Ecto-1 being hauled in front of a "Japanese Restaurant Bar & Lounge".


It's in front of Genki Ya at 232 Tremont Street in Boston. That's across the street from where they filmed Lotus Leaf and Stonebrook.


Another Chinatown shot from Ivotres/Ivy (Instagram user "Nerdtastic_Girl"), with a legible street sign to help us out.


That's a block away from the previous location, in front of Pho Pasteur at 682 Washington Street in Boston.


The Ecto-1 chillin' with some police cars between takes.


In the background we see the Jade Garden at 20 Tyler Street in Boston. The other end of the parking lot (behind the camera) is Harrison Avenue, down the block from Zhu's (the Chinese restaurant headquarters).


That's a wrap! Be sure to come back next week - same ghost time, same ghost channel - for the final part of our look at the Ghostbusters 2016 filming locations.