Columbia TriStar Home Video said the DVD release of its comedy classic Ghostbusters on June 29 will deliver “the most extensive and sophisticated interactive” DVD title to date.
The 1984 mega-hit features Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson and will be packaged in a hybrid DVD video/ DVD-ROM disc, with multiple interactive applications.
Features will include animated 3D action menus, 10 never-seen-before deleted scenes, trailers, preproduction photos, storyboards, conceptual art galleries, and a DVD-ROM Internet link.
Among the most sophisticated features is a contemporaneous feature-length film commentary with Ramis, director Ivan Reitman and producer Joe Medjuck. The three men were filmed watching the entire film and commenting on various scenes and sequences.
The viewer can choose to watch the commentary with or without silhouettes of the commentators pointing and gesturing as they watch the film.
Another feature includes film-length production notes taken from the text of “The Making of Ghostbusters” by Don Shay and put into a subtitle stream so that viewers can watch the film and read anecdotes, trivia and interviews that pertain to different points of the film.
Additionally, a split-screen application will let viewers compare three scenes in the film to the original storyboard drawings.
Three featurettes are also included: a 1984 documentary on the making of the film with interviews of cast and crew; interviews of the stars and the director shot in 1999; and 1999 interviews with the members of the special-effects team, including original production notes and conceptual art.
The disc also takes advantage of the multiple-camera-angle function of DVD Video players to show images before and after the insertion of various special effects. Viewers can toggle back and forth from the rough cut to the final cut of the film to see three scenes where special effects were added.
