Ghost (1990 film)

Ghost
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJerry Zucker
Written byBruce Joel Rubin
Produced byLisa Weinstein
Starring
CinematographyAdam Greenberg
Edited byWalter Murch
Music byMaurice Jarre
Production
companies
Distributed byParamount Pictures[2]
Release date
  • July 13, 1990 (1990-07-13)
Running time
127 minutes[3]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$22–23 million
Box office$505.7 million[4]

Ghost is a 1990 American supernatural romance film directed by Jerry Zucker from a screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin, and starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn, Vincent Schiavelli, and Rick Aviles.[5] It focuses on Sam Wheat (Swayze), a murdered banker, whose ghost sets out to save his girlfriend, Molly Jensen (Moore), from the person who killed him – through the help of the psychic Oda Mae Brown (Goldberg).

Ghost was theatrically released on July 13, 1990, to commercial success, grossing $505 million against a budget of $22–23 million and emerging as the highest-grossing film of 1990 and at the time of its release, was the third-highest-grossing film of all time. The film was a sleeper hit, which unexpectedly outperformed several blockbuster action films released during that summer.[6] Its success extended to the home video market, and it was the most rented film of 1991 in the United States. The film initially received mixed reviews from critics,[7] with praise going towards the score and performances of the cast.

Ghost earned five nominations at the 63rd Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, and winning Best Supporting Actress for Goldberg and Best Original Screenplay for Rubin.

  1. ^ Kinn, Gail; Piazza, Jim (December 16, 2014). Academy Awards®: The Complete Unofficial History -- Revised and Up-To-Date. Black Dog & Leventhal. ISBN 978-1-5791-2986-6.
  2. ^ Cieply, Michael; Easton, Nina J. (September 11, 1990). "Paramount Reels in Power Struggle After Hits, Misses". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
  3. ^ "Ghost (1990)". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
  4. ^ "Ghost". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
  5. ^ Honeycutt, Kirk (July 13, 1990). "Director Leaves Laughs Behind to Capture Spirit of 'Ghost': Movies: A suspense drama about the afterlife is the last film you'd expect from Jerry Zucker, one of the crazy guys who dreamed up 'Airplane!'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
  6. ^ "Hollywood's amazing 'Ghost' story". Courier-Post. November 14, 1990. p. 39.
  7. ^ Derschowitz, Jessica (July 10, 2015). "Ghost 25th anniversary: What critics thought of it in 1990". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 12, 2024.