Who Ya Gonna Call: Female Ghostbusters?
The original Ghostbusters was released on June 8th, 1984. It made over $242 million worldwide while in theaters, only being made on a $30 million budget. It was given a sequel, Ghostbusters II, which was released five years later on June 19th of 1989. Ever since 1989, there hasn’t been a direct sequel to the classic franchise, only being a couple video games and fan-made videos.
It seems that after 32 years since the first film, Ghostbusters is returning to cinemas in a trend Hollywood seems rather dependent on the last couple of years: a reboot. Not only is Ghostbusters being brought back as a reboot for modern audiences who weren’t alive or are unfamiliar with the original movies, this film will sport an all-female cast in the positions of the previous male cast. Those who have heard of the film and have seen the trailer are split about what the quality of the film will be, some believing that the film’s all-female cast is unnecessary, while others believe it’s a creative and new way of looking at the film.
From left to right: Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig and Leslie Jones
The female cast of this summer’s Ghostbusters includes SNL’s Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, former SNL member Kristen Wiig, and Melissa McCarthy, whose known from such films as Spy and Bridesmaids, which also had Wiig as part of the cast. Jones will be playing Patty Tolan, McCarthy as Abby Yates, McKinnon will be a character called Jillian Holtzmann, and Wiig will be playing Erin Gilbert.
The director of this summer’s Ghostbusters is Paul Feig, who has been known for working with McCarthy on previous works, such as the aforementioned Bridesmaids and Spy, but also worked with McCarthy again on 2013’s The Heat.
The first trailer was released on March 3rd of this year, and it was met with an overwhelming amount of dislikes on YouTube. According to Charles Bramesco from Vanity Fair, this trailer became one of YouTube’s most disliked videos and the most disliked trailer in Youtube’s history, with a total of 590,501 dislikes with a “grand total of 29,553,420 views on the video”. A recent comment on the video stated the following: “Please, no one go to see this. We need to make a statement.” This statement isn’t clear, but it could be that Hollywood needs to stop remaking films and start coming up with new, original ideas.
To bring even more negative light onto the trailer, “Melissa McCarthy admitted the first trailer for the female-fronted Ghostbusters was “very confusing”[.]” She later on made a quote in the same Rolling Stones article which further criticized the nature and feeling of the trailer: “It’s a reboot, not a remake[.] I know it’s weird that they say ‘30 years ago’, but in this movie it’s like the first one didn’t happen.”
Paul Feig was later quoted in the article, stating: “The haters on our trailer were very proud of the fact they had racked up 400,000 dislikes on YouTube versus 200,000 likes. But [given the number of views] that’s not a majority by anybody's standards. Some of it is that people don’t want an old property touched-I’m sympathetic towards that. But the ones who are hating it because it’s about women? That’s just a non-starter.”
Feig is saying that he can see the perspective of the people who aren’t anticipating or dislike the new Ghostbusters who don’t want the original tampered with; however, Feig does not care for the people who dislike the movie simply because women are involved.
According to Box Office Mojo, Ghostbusters will be opening after such films as: The BFG; The Purge: Election Year; The Shallows and The Secret Life of Pets. These films have a following and are anticipated by quite a few people. With the amount of dislike and uncertainty towards the film, it’s unclear at the moment to know how it’ll perform against its competition.
There are plenty of reasons of how this reboot could go awry. The main concern is that this film could dampen the quality of the original and not give it justice, like many other reboots such as Poltergeist and 2015’s Fantastic Four. The original Ghostbusters was like a milestone, presenting the framework for other sci-fi and comedy films.
Personally, being a fan of both Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy, the trailer did look somewhat entertaining and could really appeal to those who are fans of the duos’ work. Those who see Ghostbusters as one of their personal favorite films and loves it, however, are probably both disappointed and furious about this film. For those who fit the description of the latter, perhaps skipping this film would be the best for your benefit.
