Remember the first reboot of Ghostbusters? After a long hiatus from the franchise, Sony decided to put a fresh coat of paint on the series by having an all-star feature cast that includes Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig. Paul Feig directed the reboot, and he was fresh off two commercial successes: Spy and The Heat. On the surface, it seemed that Ghostbusters had a strong chance of revitalizing the brand. That was farther from the case.
The film drew instant backlash when the all-female cast was announced. The negative backlash only got worse when the film was finally released. Though the critic score was far from bad, Ghostbusters didn’t stand much of a chance at the box office. Ghostbusters only made $229 million based on a budget of $144 million. These days, the studio is trying to make you forget that the film even existed in the first place. Given the level of talent involved with the film, one has to wonder where it went all wrong for the iconic series.
Trying To Replace The Original Cast
Let’s get something clear: the hate that the all-female cast received was unwarranted. The main cast was full of a talented performers who could’ve lived up to task of bringing back the Ghostbusters franchise to life. The hate was simply because they were women replacing the original cast, who were all men. As tired as Hollywood’s reboot phase was, the actresses within the film were unfairly targeted. With that said, Sony made a drastic mistakes in replacing the original cast. It wasn’t just the fact that they replaced the old Ghostbusters cast, but they erased that those characters even existed in the first place.
Most of the original cast make some fun cameos in the 2016 film, but they’re all playing different characters from the original series. Executives should’ve known that this wasn’t going to go well. Even if the cast was replaced by all new male actors, this was still a terrible idea. The reason Ghostbusters: Afterlife worked so well because it honored the legacy of the first two films, yet it still carved a new path for the next generation.
The studio should’ve made sure that the 2016 Ghostbusters still shared the same universe as the first two films, but focused on the new generation of Ghostbusters. The hate for the film wouldn’t have been as strong for the film if Paul Feig made it clear that it wasn’t trying to replace the original Ghostbusters.
The Film Was A Carbon Copy Of The Original
For the most part, Ghostbusters wasn’t so different from the origin story of the 1984 film. Hell, both films saw the newfound Ghostbusters kicked out of a university! Not only did Feig think it was a good idea to pretend that the 1984 and 1989 didn’t exist, to essentially rehash what made the original famous felt like a lazy cash cow. If Feig and Sony were going to made a BOLD move by pretending that the original films didn’t exist then they should’ve done everything in their powers to not replicate that first film.
As proven in Afterlife and Frozen Empire, there’s a rich lore with the Ghostbusters premise. Instead of naturally exploring something that honors the series but adds onto the mythology of what came before it, all the 2016 Ghostbusters did was remind audiences why the 1984 is such a classic. The purpose of a reboot is too improve on something that had tremendous potential. The first two Ghostbusters films were far from perfect, but they are held in high regard by many fans. Making a carbon copy of the same film doesn’t do anyone favors and it effectively hindered the growth of this reboot attempt.
Ghostbusters 2016 Simply Wasn’t Good
With that said, the remake simply wasn’t good. The jokes felt forced and unoriginal. Is there a reason that Feig thought it would be funny to write Chris Hemsworth’s character as complete moron? The guy is so incompetent that it actually defies logic, and makes you question whether he could properly put on pants in the morning. That wasn’t the only failed running gag. Too many jokes were juvenile and obvious, with the characters being so over-the-top that it was often hard to get into the story.
Yes, this is a film about Ghostbusters, but characters were too wacky and the scenarios felt inorganic. The cast tried their hardest in trying to make this script work, but Ghostbusters just wasn’t funny. It’s a shame as the four women and Hemsworth do have the comedic chops to pull off something of this nature. Is this one of the worst films ever made? No. Not even close, but it was a pointless remake that had no business existing in the first place.
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