Guru Askew

Agreed. How dare they put the third-billed star of the movie on the cover along with the other castmembers?

windom

Too bad they didn't get Rick Moranis.

Solid Snake

The video shows Murray and he looks old obviously but that cover shows a Murray not in that video. They photoshopped him.

Also... I hate those shitty morning entertainment shows or whatever they are. They're so so fake in how they present themselves. And people eat it up.

fumanstan

I'm impressed they remembered to even include Winston on there.

GoldenJCJ

I'm sure if Harold Ramis was still alive they wouldn't have.

Guru Askew

Putting 9th-billed Winston on the cover is a bigger insult than putting one of the legitimate stars on it.

When I was a kid I actually noticed the billing and it bugged me. I thought the 4 Ghostbusters should be considered the 4 main stars of the movie. As an adult I can't imagine thinking Ernie Hudson contributed more to the movie than Weaver or Moranis or even Atherton or Potts. Because he didn't.

Kal-El

Sports Night! Dan Rydell and Casey McCall!

GoldenJCJ

But as an adult you realize that order of billing is all determined in contract negotiations and has no true bearing on screen time, contribution, or presence, right?

Troy Stiffler

I see they put him towards the middle. That way he isn't cropped out.

Guru Askew

It's not inherently wrong, and Ghostbusters is probably as good an example as any when it comes to getting billing right.

Hudson was a tertiary castmember at best.

My Other Self

Perfect example is Arnold in Batman & Robin. His getting billed over Clooney was the only way he'd agree to do the film.

I believe the same was for Nicholson over Keaton in the '89 Batman.

Guru Askew

So let me get this straight:

Are you guys equating Nicholson and Arnold getting top billing as villains in Batman movies to all the people with bigger roles getting higher billing than Ernie Hudson in Ghostbusters?

DaveyJoe

He's a goddamn Ghostbuster, you know!

Michael Corvin

I'm surprised they didn't put that big yellow star over his face.

My Other Self

Yes, because it's the same fucking thing.

I'm not sure why this is so hard for you to grasp.

Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis were billed below Aykroyd, Murray and Weaver. And Egon is the one who invented the equipment, so should he have been billed over everyone else? You seem to be equating their roles in the film with how they were billed when it's more name recognition and box office draw than anything else.

I've never liked how Ernie Hudson has gotten the shaft for all of these years in terms of recognition but I understand why he doesn't get top-billing.

robin2099

Arnold was billed because he was the biggest star out of everyone in the entire cast. Same with Nicholson. They typically do that so that Joe Schmoe movie goer will see the biggest star right of the bat and see it based on their name alone.

My Other Self

That's obviously part of it, but Keaton was a name and so was Clooney in 1997. And let's face it, you're seeing a Batman movie for Batman.

Nicholson had it specifically in his contract for top-billing, as well as some ridiculous back-end deal in which he's still making money on.

In regards to Arnold...

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/02/big...batman-a-robin

Solid Snake

Whoa. Stewart as Freeze. W/ a different script I'd love to see that. Shit. Even w/ the script we got I'd see that.

DaveyJoe

Ice to see you! I've seen everything.

devilshalo

Which is why he got paid $25M for a couple weeks work.

Guru Askew

Aykroyd's part is only slightly larger than Ramis's, but if anything Weaver deserves second billing over everyone but Murray. And the case could easily be made that Moranis turns in a more memorable comedic performance than Ramis or Aykroyd.

It has nothing to do with who invented the tech or who bought the firehouse or who called shotgun or whatever stupid fanboy nonsense you wanna scrape up. There are 4 Ghostbusters in the script and there are 4 other characters with more substantial roles than one or more of those Ghostbusters.

If you think the 4 Ghostbusters deserve top billing above anyone else you aren't paying attention.

If I had to be realistic I'd bill the movie in this order: Murray, Weaver, Aykroyd, Ramis, Moranis, Atherton, Potts and Hudson. Murray, Weaver and Aykroyd above the title on the poster. Ramis and Moranis below. Potts, Atherton and Hudson in the credit block, and I'd probably toss Hudson an "and" credit.

fumanstan

Wasn't the discussion just about a magazine cover anyway? My guess is that they would have just shown the four male Ghostbusters, but because Ramis is gone it made sense to put Sigourney in there on name alone.

Guru Askew

It also makes sense because she's legitimately one of the stars of the movie as opposed to the featured player on the cover with the other three stars.

Hazel Motes

All those pictures do for me is make me depressed that Harold Ramis is dead.

fumanstan

Winston was robbed.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/11/0...-ernie-hudson/