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70 free Ghostbusters trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
62 free Ghostbusters trivia questions with answers. Forty years after four Columbia parapsychologists set up shop in a Tribeca firehouse, Ghostbusters is still one of the most quoted comedies ever made. This quiz runs the whole franchise: the 1984 original, Ghostbusters II, the 2016 reboot, Afterlife and Frozen Empire, plus The Real Ghostbusters cartoon and Ray Parker Jr.'s theme song. The questions start friendly (who directed the first film, what the creature in Dana's fridge says) and get progressively nastier: what the Ecto-1 siren was recorded from, which household gadget became the PKE meter, and how much Columbia paid just to use the word Ghostbusters. There is plenty of behind-the-scenes lore for the kind of fan who owns a proton pack. Every answer has been checked against the film's production history and the published record and carries a linked source, so if your friends dispute a result you can settle it on the spot. Perfect for a Halloween movie night, a pub quiz round, or proving once and for all that you should not have crossed the streams.
30 of 70 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed the original 1984 Ghostbusters?
Ivan Reitman
He had just made Animal House and Stripes, and Aykroyd considered him the logical choice; he also supplied several of the film's ghost voices.
Q 02Dan Aykroyd wrote Ghostbusters as a vehicle for himself and which SNL castmate, who died in 1982?
John Belushi
Aykroyd was writing one of his friend's lines when the phone call came with the news; Murray stepped into the role instead.
Q 03Which real New York City firehouse served as the exterior of the Ghostbusters' headquarters?
Hook & Ladder Company 8
The Tribeca station was still active, so the interiors were shot in a decommissioned firehouse in downtown Los Angeles.
Q 04The Ecto-1 is a converted 1959 ambulance built on a chassis from which carmaker?
Cadillac
Early concepts had it painted black with purple strobes, but the cinematographer pointed out a dark car would vanish in night scenes.
Q 05How much do the Ghostbusters pay for the beat-up ambulance that becomes Ecto-1?
$4,800
The buyer immediately lists everything it needs, from suspension work and brakes to a steering box and mufflers.
Q 06What did the crew nickname the Sedgewick Hotel's green ghost, because of the puppet's smell?
Onionhead
The name Slimer only came along with the 1986 cartoon; in the film itself the ghost is never called anything.
Q 07Who wrote and performed the Ghostbusters theme song?
Ray Parker Jr.
He was told the title had to be in the lyrics and, stuck, borrowed the call-and-response idea from a cheap late-night TV commercial.
Q 08Which musician sued over the Ghostbusters theme, claiming its melody was lifted from "I Want a New Drug"?
Huey Lewis
The filmmakers had used that song as temp music in the montage and had first asked its writer to score the theme himself.
Q 09The Ghostbusters theme lost the Best Original Song Oscar to which Stevie Wonder hit?
I Just Called to Say I Love You
The same Stevie Wonder ballad from The Woman in Red beat it at the Golden Globes too, though the Ghostbusters theme did take the BAFTA.
Q 10How many weeks did the Ghostbusters theme spend at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100?
3
It was Parker's only chart-topper there, and it has crept back into the UK Top 75 more than once around Halloween.
Q 11Who composed the orchestral score for the 1984 film?
Elmer Bernstein
He called it the most difficult score he had ever written because of the constant swings between comedy and menace.
Q 12Which unusual electronic instrument gives the 1984 score its eerie wail?
Ondes Martenot
So few people could play it that a musician had to be flown in from England; the same player returned for Afterlife decades later.
Q 13Measured to scale in the film, how tall is the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man?
112.5 feet
The novelization rounds him down to a mere 100 feet; the video game classifies him as a Class 7 Outsider Avatar.
Q 21How often did Ernie Hudson have to audition before landing Winston Zeddemore?
Five auditions
He took the part for half his usual fee on the strength of a bigger role, then got a slimmed-down script the night before shooting.
Q 22Sigourney Weaver changed Dana Barrett's profession from a model to what?
A cellist
At her audition she got down on all fours and howled like a dog, which is also where the idea of Dana being possessed came from.
Q 23Who plays Janine Melnitz, the Ghostbusters' deadpan secretary?
Annie Potts
Rushed onto set on her first day, she borrowed the set dresser's glasses and wore them for the rest of the film.
Q 14How many foam Marshmallow Man suits were built for the 1984 shoot?
18
Almost all of them were burned on camera by a single stuntman, at $25,000 to $30,000 a suit.
Q 15Whose childhood memory of a marshmallow mascot gives Gozer its giant final form?
Ray Stantz
Told to choose the form of the destructor, he tries to think of something harmless and lands on a corporate logo from his youth.
Q 16What single word does the creature in Dana's refrigerator utter?
Zuul
It turns out to be a demigod servant of a Sumerian destruction god, and it wants Dana's body for the job of Gatekeeper.
Q 17After his possession, Louis Tully insists he is which entity?
Vinz Clortho, the Keymaster
The Ghostbusters realise the two possessed neighbours must be kept apart, and it lasts about as long as you would expect.
Q 18Who plays Dana's nerdy neighbour Louis Tully?
Rick Moranis
He accepted an hour after receiving the script, made the character an accountant, and ad-libbed the entire party speech.
Q 19Which comedian turned down Louis Tully after proposing a German accent and German shepherds?
John Candy
The filmmakers felt the movie already had enough dogs in it, thanks to Zuul and Vinz.
Q 20Which actor plays the EPA inspector who shuts down the containment unit?
William Atherton
He said the character could not be played funny; Peck was written as a Margaret Dumont-style straight foil to the Marx Brothers.
Q 24Gozer was originally written as a business-suited architect to be played by which comic actor?
Paul Reubens
When he passed, the role went to Yugoslav actress Slavitza Jovan and was restyled after the androgynous looks of Grace Jones and Bowie.
Q 25Harold Ramis borrowed Egon's surname from which German historian?
Oswald Spengler
The first name came from a Hungarian refugee Ramis went to school with; the look came from a journal cover on abstract architecture.
Q 26The title 'Ghostbusters' was legally tied up by a 1970s children's show owned by which rival studio?
Universal
Backup titles under consideration included Ghoststoppers, Ghostbreakers and Ghostsmashers.
Q 27How much did the rival studio charge Columbia for the rights to the title, on top of 1% of profits?
$500,000
Thanks to Hollywood accounting the film technically never showed a profit, so the 1% was never owed.
Q 28How many consecutive weeks was Ghostbusters the No. 1 film in US theaters?
7
Purple Rain finally knocked it off in early August, and it took the top spot back the very next week.
Q 29Which December release narrowly edged Ghostbusters as the highest-grossing film of 1984 in North America?
Beverly Hills Cop
The margin was about $5 million, and Ghostbusters reclaimed the crown as the biggest comedy of the decade after a 1985 re-release.
Q 30The Ecto-1's distinctive siren was built from a recording of what?
A leopard snarl
The snarl was cut up and played backwards; the roof rack was so big it flew to Manhattan by plane while the car went by train.