When there's something strange in your neighborhood, most people know to call the Ghostbusters. The original team kept New York City safe across two movies in the 1980s, and later this month, the reboot will show a new team getting into that line of work. However, while busting ghosts is definitely exciting, it still remains a job, which means that these characters still have to worry about money. Fortunately, thanks to some number crunchers, we've now learned that the original Ghostbusters organization would actually be a decent business to run by today's standards, with a few minor changes here and there.
Starting off, the folks at BizDaq looked at how much the Ghostbusters' revenue is (adjusted for inflation), and while that number was never clearly provided in the original movie, they estimated that it's nearly $1.1 million annually. Okay, that's pretty good, but then, of course, expenses have to be considered, like their base of operations. The fire station rental is in an expensive neighborhood, meaning that they're paying about almost $549,000 a year to set up shop. Then there's the equipment, like the Proton Packs, the Ghost Sniffer and the Ecto-1. All together, those cost approximately $250,000. Once you factor in the "stock value" of the ghost containment unit and the ongoing annual costs of running the business reaching nearly $937,000, in total, the original Ghostbusters team is valued almost $627,500.
BizDaq cited Ghostbusters' brand awareness, their growth potential and the "growing prominence" of the occult are all positive factors for the business. However, they also noted that the rising outgoing costs aren't helping matters, as those take out nearly half of everything they bring in. Overall, it sounds like the original Ghostbusters were off to a great start in that first year, meaning they had the potential to become a profitable business.
Longtime Ghostbusters fans remember that in the original movie, Peter Venkman, Raymond Stantz and Egon Spengler started the Ghostbusters after they were fired from Columbia University. While they may have been able to find jobs at other institutions of higher learning, they instead opted to open their paranormal extermination business, a.k.a. the Ghostbusters. Eventually Winston Zeddemore was added to the team, and while the foursome separated after the first movie, they retimed for Ghostbusters II, presumably keeping the business operational. Going off these new numbers, as long as they figure out a way to cut costs in a few areas, they can make the Ghostbusters one of New York's best business, not to mention most important when it comes to stopping spirits and other ethereal threats.
The Ghostbusters reboot hits theaters on July 15, but I'd like to think that in that other universe, the original crew's business is still open, even if they leave the ghost busting in the streets to a new staff.
