Ultimate Movie Year finds the best films from weekends past to build an all-star lineup of cinema.

"Ghostbusters"
Released June 7, 1984
Directed by Ivan Reitman
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Dan Aykroyd's family roots trace back to being in business with the supernatural. That history was clearly on his mind, along with a desire to revive a classic movie trope of pairing comedians against dead spirits when he started developing the idea for "Ghostbusters."

But by the time "Ghostbusters" was released in 1984, filmgoers spent almost a decade packing theaters for adventure and fantasy. A story that involved a demonic takeover of New York City indeed continued that trend, but what made "Ghostbusters" unique was filling the movie with characters that were as willing to comment on the absurdity of these situations, as they were to participate in it. It lampshaded Hollywood's transformation into a big-budget franchise machine, and then "Ghostbusters" became one itself.