Following her time as a member of the Brat Pack in the movies Blame It on Rio, St. Elmo’s Fire and About Last Night…, Demi Moore was catapulted to another level of fame with Ghost. The Jerry Zucker-directed movie saw Moore playing a woman whose boyfriend was murdered, but his spirit stuck around to prevent her from being killed by the same man. In early 2023, it was revealed that Channing Tatum was developing a Ghost remake, and Moore has shared her thoughts on the potential project and if she’d reprise Molly Jensen.
Ahead of her new horror movie The Substance premiering on the 2024 release schedule later this month, Moore sat down with Variety to talk about the body horror flick and other areas of her career, including Ghost. When the prospect of a remake was brought up, the actress summarized her thoughts on it thusly:
There are some films better left alone, but it depends on what the take is. The success of ‘Ghost’ is really about alchemy. Think about Whoopi, who anchored the comedy in a magical way. Or Tony Goldwyn, the boy next door who is the most unsuspecting villain. And the sweetness and virility of Patrick Swayze. Channing is incredibly intelligent and talented — who knows what he would bring to it if it happened.
She’s absolutely right about that. One of the big reasons Ghost was such a critical hit, became the highest grossing movie of 1990 and ultimately netted two Academy Award wins and three other nominations was through its cast, with Demi Moore’s Molly and Patrick Swayze’s Sam Wheat being joined by Whoopi Goldberg’s Oda Mae Brown and Tony Goldwyn’s Carl Bruner, among others. It’d be a daunting prospect for the cast of a Ghost remake to achieve the kind of “alchemy” that the original lineup had.
It’s also worth considering that the new Ghost movie Channing Tatum is working on might not be a remake/reboot in the traditional sense, but rather be a similar story following brand-new characters set in the same continuity as the 1990 movie. If that’s the case, then the door would be open for Demi Moore to play Molly Jensen again, though here’s what she had to say about the hypothetical reprisal:
I’d have to see what they come up with.
The last notable update on the Ghost remake came in May 2023, when Channing Tatum said that the project was “really getting somewhere we can really be proud of and really want to go make.” It’s unclear where things stand on the new version of Ghost more than a year later, though if it ultimately does move forward, Tatum would star in the Patrick Swayze-like role. If Demi Moore did decide to appear, I’m curious if it would just be a cameo or if the script has been written in a way for Molly to have a supporting role.
As we wait for news about whether the new Ghost will happen or not, remember that the original movie can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription. Catch Demi Moore’s performance in The Substance starting September 20 in theaters.