A shot of Fort Macleod's Empress Theatre in the first Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer. (Supplied by Sony Pictures Entertainment)

By David Opinko

Ghostbusters production a major economic boost for Fort Macleod

Dec 12, 2019 | 4:46 AM

FORT MACLEOD, AB – The CAO of the Town of Fort Macleod says the shot of the Empress Theatre in the first trailer of Ghostbusters: Afterlife is absolutely priceless.

The community will be transformed into the fictional Oklahoman town of Summerville in the movie.

Sue Keenan talked to LNN about the economic impact that the movie’s filming had on the community, and while she cannot put a definitive dollar amount on it, she says it was great for the local economy.

Back in the summer, a large group of production crew members spent 12 days in Fort Macleod between the original shoots and a series of re-shoots.

“A lot of our motels were full, there was a lot of visitors in town, we had over 200 crew here, most of whom stayed in town – of course, the stars stayed in Lethbridge – but it was a really good boon for us. You can’t put a price tag on all the marketing that came with that and even the trailer now.”

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With the addition of the public coming by to see what was happening, Kennan estimates that there might have been around 5,000 extra people in the community at any one time. That is quite the feat for a town that had a permanent population of 2,967 as of the 2016 federal census.

“Overall, I think our business community was really happy with the filming. When any big film comes to town, our businesses, especially on Main Street, get to apply to the filming company for loss of business, so they’re compensated for that. They also get some additional funding if their stores are modified in any way to be used in the film, which quite a few of them were.”

The local government got their share as well, as Sony Pictures Entertainment paid the town to have some of the roads periodically closed over the 12-day period, for stop signs and light fixtures to be removed, and for Volker Stevin to essentially do traffic control and inform drivers of what was happening.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is certainly not the first major movie to have scenes shot in Fort Macleod.

Some key shots from 2005’s Brokeback Mountain were filmed in the area and Keenan says they still get tourists wanting to find those locations.

She hopes the town can get those same long-term benefits from Ghostbusters.

Keenan says there are a couple of reasons why the small prairie town is such a population destination for Hollywood.

“We’ve always been acknowledged as being a very friendly place to go and people are very patient and very respectful of the filming process and that helps a lot. We have a filming policy in place so it pretty much lays out, you know, the expectations of both the production company and the Town of Fort Macleod and what we’re both going to be doing.”

Below, you can watch the full first trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

While not all of the main cast of the film made their way to Fort Macleod, Keenan says Dan Aykroyd was there as were two of the child actors and their characters’ mother.

Other locations in southern Alberta were utilized for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, including Calgary, Drumheller, Turner Valley, Beiseker, Dorothy, Crossfield, and the hoodoos in the region.

The movie is scheduled to come out on July 10th, 2020.