The night ‘Ghosts’ busted Guinness

SINGAPORE — We were there when it happened Monday night, June 13, the day after the celebration of Independence Day in the Philippines. Our group included GMA’s Lyn Ching, CNN Philippines’ Paolo del Rosario, Rappler’s Wyatt Ong and Doris Torres (marketing director of Columbia Pictures Philippines, our host).

To drumbeat for the rebooted Ghostbusters, Sony Pictures Entertainment hosted what may be called “Ghostbusters Night” at the sprawling Event Plaza of Marina Bay Sands in anticipation of the movie’s release (on July 15 in the Philippines).

It rained earlier that day but thankfully, several minutes before the affair started, the rain stopped. Dozens worked double time to squeeze every drop from the rain-soaked red carpet. With the breathtaking dancing fountain as backdrop, dozens and dozens of fans dressed as ghosts (with the franchise’s familiar “no ghost” icon on their white shirts) came marching in, with the three hosts onstage alternately reminding the huge crowd that a representative of the Guinness Book of Records was present (making a head count, we betted). You guessed it: the target of the red-carpet event was to create a record as the event with the most number of “ghosts.” Mission accomplished.

Before the event was over, Rishi Nath, adjudicator for Guinness World Records confirmed that a total of 263 people dressed as ghosts claimed a new title for Largest Gathering of People Dressed as Ghosts at a Single Venue. There you are, “Ghosts” easily busted Guinness!

“We are incredibly impressed by the fans’ dedication to Ghostbusters as well as their sense of adventure and fun. It’s official — this is a fantastic achievement!”

Highlight of the event was the presence of Ghostbusters star Melissa McCarthy and director Paul Feig who made the rounds of media guys stationed around the long, winding red carpet for “ambush” interviews, showing not the faintest sign of wear and tear after TV and print interviews with journalists from around the Asian region the whole morning and afternoon.

Commented director Feig, “Seeing this many people get their ghost on and set a Guinness World Records title is a true testament to this amazing franchise that Dan (Aykroyd) and Ivan (Reitnam) created 32 years ago. Fortunately, I ain’t afraid of no ghosts because we were up to our armpits in them. Ghostbusters of the world, gear up!”

The 1984 horror-comedy was produced and directed by Reitman, and co-written by Harold Ramis and Aykroyd who both also starred in it together with Bill Murray as the three eccentric parapsychologists who start a ghost-catching business in New York City, with Sigourney Weaver as lead actress. With McCarthy in the rebooted version are Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones as the all-female Ghostbusters, co-starring Chris Hemsworth who will pleasantly surprise his fans with his comic turn as the ferocious females’ dimwitted secretary. The rebooted film is also produced by Reitman and Amy Pascal, and written by Katie Dippold and Feig.

Guinness World Records (www.guinnessworldrecords.com) is the global authority on record-breaking achievement. First published in 1955, the annual Guinness World Records book is one of the best-selling books of all time and currently sells more than 2.5 million copies in 22 languages and over 100 countries. The Guinness World Records brand extends across a wide range of media, with global television audiences of 250 million annually, a website that attracts over 13 million visitors, and live events which have entertained and inspired more than 1.5 million people around the world.

Ghostbusters is the first of three films highlighted during this week’s Sony Summit held at the Marina Bay Sands. Because of the embargo, invited journalists were reminded not to talk yet about the two others — the remake of the 1960 film Magnificent Seven (with Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson among the stars), now starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Byung-Hun Lee, Manuel Garcia Rulfo and Martin Seismeir, directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, etc.) who represented the movie at the Sony Summit; and Inferno, the third of the Dan Brown trilogy (after Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons) again directed by Ron Howard, and starring Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon as a symbologist and Indian actor Irrfan Khan.

Magnificent Seven is showing in the Philippines in September yet, followed by Inferno in October.

Like the Ghostbusters team of McCarthy and Feig, the Inferno team was likewise welcomed with loud cheers at the red carpet the following night.

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