While Ghost and Pretty Woman battled it out at the box offices of the world, here in the UK it was an altogether very different story. Pretty Woman did indeed fare very well, grossing nearly £12 million. Jerry Zucker's Ghost, however, quite simply smashed all box office records to bring in more than £22 million and become the most successful film ever to be released in the UK.
It's easy to see why. Ghost has a number of elements that make it virtually irresistible, namely Zucker's deft comic touch which expertly avoids sentimentality, Whoopi Goldberg's legendary and, of course, Oscar-winning performance as the so-far-over-the-top-she's-down-the-other-side Oda Mae Brown, , and Demi Moore's ability to cry in a sexier fashion than anyone in recent history.
The story is simple, but It's not so much the tale as the telling of it, that has enraptured audiences throughout the world and it is abundantly clear that while the rest of Hollywood was trying to do a Batman, Zucker had his finger on a far more universal pulse.
And so, with chocolates, mansize tissues and, preferably, the one you love all within grabbing distance, Ghost is the video to round off that perfect evening of slush. You had, as the poster suggests, better believe it
