The people who made 2016’s “Ghostbusters” just can’t let go of the miserable failure that film was. They need to blame anyone and everyone but themselves. Just get over it. You made a bad movie that audiences didn’t want to see.
Remember when Melissa McCarthy, one of the stars of Feig’s all-female “Ghostbusters,” ranted that the film’s lack of success was because “people are afraid of women”? How about McCarthy’s co-star, Leslie Jones, calling out “racism” and “misogyny” as being part of the reason why the film bombed.
One person who really can’t let go of 2016’s “Ghostbusters” is its director, Paul Feig, who already blamed the failure on the “anti-Hilary movement,” whatever that means. Eight years later, Feig’s back at it, telling The Guardian that “Trump supporters” is what drowned the movie.
“The political climate of the time was really weird, with Hillary Clinton running for office in 2016,” Feig said. “There were a lot of dudes looking for a fight. When I was getting piled on, on Twitter, I’d go back and see who they were. So many were Trump supporters. Then Trump came out against us. He was like: ‘They’re remaking Indiana Jones without Harrison Ford. You can’t do that. And now they’re making ‘Ghostbusters’ with only women. What’s going on?’ and got all upset.”
“Everybody went fucking cannibal,” Feig continued. “It turned the movie into a political statement, as if to say: ‘If you’re pro-women, you’re going to go see this. If you’re not, then …’ I didn’t think it mattered at all that the main characters were women, but people brought a lot of baggage.”
Sony lost close to $70M+ on “Ghostbusters,” and although fan vitriol was indeed exaggerated — the movie wasn’t that bad — it had a weak script and the whole thing kind of fell flat. The story just wasn’t that good. The cast was fine; Kristen Wiig was her usual awkward self, Leslie Jones did a decent job with what was essentially a thinly written role, and Kate McKinnon basically stole with the limited scenes that she had.
More recently, “Ghostbusters” star Ernie Hudson told The Independent that he was disappointed in the all-female reboot because “it wasn’t what fans were hoping for.”
That’s kind of where I’m at right now when it comes to Feig’s “Ghostbusters.” They just had to make a good movie, but they sadly didn’t, and then interest fell. It wasn’t just audiences who disapproved of the film — critics’ reviews were also mediocre (52 on Metacritic).
Netflix and Skydance Animation have also called it quits. The two sides announced Monday that they're ending the animated film deal struck back in 2023, framing it as a mutual decision.