I refer to the article, Why Ghostbusters Remake Bombed (Life, Aug 17). The writer does not mention what I feel are vital reasons that contributed to the film's poor box-office reception, especially in Singapore.

I believe the movie performed dismally here mainly because it had poor word-of-mouth on the Internet, mostly negative reviews by journalists and that it was shown in 3D here for merely a week.

Ghostbusters is a fun and exciting film that can be fully appreciated only in 3D and when played with a Dolby Surround 7.1 sound system because of its unique special effects.

In 1984, when Ghostbusters was released here, there were large outdoor banners and lobby cards displayed at Orchard Cinema, now known as Cathay Cineleisure Orchard.

The movie's theme song was heavily played over the radio and in record shops. There were attractive newspaper advertisements listing the showtimes.

Today, cinemas here are housed in large buildings and Singapore newspapers no longer run daily cinema advertisements with showtimes. Newspaper film advertisements here are not common anymore.

Local film distributors and exhibitors should work harder to draw people to cinemas as they face stiff competition from other platforms such as the Internet.

Vivian Sng Mei Lee