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Ghost Balloons[1] were a group of ghosts of balloons that were in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parades.[2] They appeared in the 2016 movie.

History[]

Patty Tolan, Abby Yates and Jillian Holtzmann headed to The Mercado Hotel on foot after the Ecto-1 was stolen by Slimer. Just on the lower outskirts of Times Square, they encountered a ghost parade on West 38th Street and 6th Avenue. The Captain Nemo ghost balloon doubled back and peeked at them. Holtzmann made eye contact with the Captain Nemo ghost balloon and then all the balloons came down the street to get them. The balloons chuckled and started floating towards them. Abby guessed they looked like chew toys to them. They blasted the balloons and they popped one by one as they slowly drifted towards them. They popped and puttered away. They blasted all but one apart, the Stay Puft Ghost Balloon and it landed on them. Abby groaned. Patty pointed out how absurd it was. Abby stated she couldn't reach her trigger. Holtzmann told them it was exactly how she pictured her death. Stay Puft deeply chuckled at their predicament. Erin Gilbert arrived and popped the Stay Puft with a Swiss Army Knife.

Members[]

Other than "Huge funny face" and "Stay Puft", the rest are named as they were in real life. "Huge funny face" was likely part of the "15 huge funny face balloons" in the 1930 parade.[3]

Trivia[]

  • The Ghostbusters encounter the haunted Thanksgiving Day parade on West 38th Street and 6th Avenue.
  • The majority of the possessed balloons are based on actual balloons from past Macy's Thanksgiving Day parades.
    • Captain Nemo from 1929[4]
    • Papa, of the "Mama, Papa, and Baby" float, from 1931[5][6]
    • Dragon from 1936[7]
    • Two Acrobats (designed by Rudolf Lopez) from 1938[8]
    • Pinocchio from 1937[9]
    • Harold the Clown from 1940[10]
  • In the establishing shot of Manhattan, you can see the parade floats in the correct area of West 38th Street and 6th Avenue before the encounter takes place with the Ghostbusters.[11]
  • The Haunted Parade Float scene was filmed at the Franklin and Federal Street intersection in Boston evidenced by the Fidelity Investments logo on the building to the right in one shot that was not edited out.
  • Holtzmann claims she pictured she would die by being smothered by a giant parade float. [12]

Appearances[]

References[]

  1. Peter Travers (2016). Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) Special Features; "Visual Effects: 30 Years Later" (2016) (Blu-Ray ts. 0:10:48-0:10:49). Sony Pictures. Peter Travers says: "This is the ghost balloons ghost attack."
  2. Patty Tolan (2016). Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) Extended Edition; Chapter 14 (2016) (Blu-Ray ts. 1:41:23-1:41:28). Sony Pictures. Patty Tolan says: "Yo, was Thanksgiving like Halloween back in the 1920s? 'Cause that's a creepy-ass Macy's Parade."
  3. Robert M. Grippo, Christopher Hoskins (October 25, 2004). Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, p. 18-19. Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina USA, ISBN 0738535621.
  4. API Thanksgiving Floats image
  5. Gawker Mama, Papa, and Baby float
  6. Gawker "A Visual History of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloons
  7. Dragon float image reference
  8. Daily News Two Acroboats float image
  9. Pinocchio float image from blogspot
  10. Wired Harold the Clown float image
  11. Spook Central Shot on Site "Return of Shot on Site Summer - Ghostbusters 2016 Locations, Part 8 (Movie Rundown)" 7/22/18
  12. Jillian Holtzmann (2016). Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) Extended Edition; Chapter 14 (2016) (Blu-Ray ts. 1:42:24-1:42:26). Sony Pictures. Jillian Holtzmann says: "You guys, this is exactly how I pictured my death."

Gallery[]

Primary Canon[]

Behind the Scenes[]

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