Ghostbusters is back, teeth gnash
Hear the arguing already? The sequel to the 1980s classic is destined to reboot heated debate
There’s going to be another Ghostbusters movie, so get set for fierce arguing. Where were you during the great Ghostbusters war of 2016? Was it in the comments section, fighting?
Get ready for more of that. Jason Reitman will direct and co-write a new instalment in the Ghostbusters series, which will not pick up where the 2016 all-female reboot left off. (His father, Ivan, directed the original 1984 movie and its 1989 follow-up.)
“This is the next chapter in the original franchise. It is not a reboot,” Jason Reitman told Entertainment Weekly, which first broke the news. “What happened in the 80s happened in the 80s, and this is set in the present day.”
There’s even a teaser, showing the old Ectomobile (that iconic Ghostbusters car) in a barn.
Sony’s 2016 gender-swap reboot, which stars Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy, sparked intense divisions well before the movie even hit theatres, with negative comments flooding the internet simply because it starred women. (The responses included such wit as “how dare these women ruin a beloved childhood classic” to “women are not funny”.)
The trailer for the Paul Feigdirected movie brought out an unprecedented level of hate, making it the most disliked trailer in YouTube history. Audience ratings on sites such as IMDb were also out of whack.
On the other hand, the sight of four women fighting ghosts and taking names inspired plenty of love among a cadre of fans eager to see more female representation on screen.
Feig was especially touched to see young girls and boys dressing up as the characters for Halloween.
“I wanted for little girls to be able to see themselves up on the screen,” Feig told Vulture at the time. “The original one exists, so you can see boys doing it, but how fun for girls to have this experience!”
We know few details about the newest Ghostbusters instalment, but it’s already sparking reactions about possible gender dynamics.
Shooting will begin in the next few months, with a release date anticipated for mid2020, according to EW . No word on the cast yet and whether it’ll be an all-male, female or mixed-gender ensemble, although Reitman promised “new characters”.
“I have so much respect for what Paul [Feig] created with those brilliant actresses, and would love to see more stories from them,” Reitman told EW. “However, this new movie will follow the trajectory of the original film.”
For the 2016 reboot, Feig had buy-in from the original cast members, many of whom had cameos, and Ivan Reitman produced.
But the stakes were still high when Feig took the reins. The sexist vitriol made seeing the reboot more than just a night out at the movies; paying for a ticket became a political act.
The movie performed modestly at the box office, making US$229 million ($337m) worldwide.
But with a budget of US$144m, it didn’t break even after the domestic release, which pulled in US$128m.
The storyline follows a familiar narrative: the performance of a big movie starring an under-represented group becomes proof of the financial viability of all movies starring that underrepresented group.
We saw that last year with Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians.
But having a hit doesn’t necessarily put all scepticism to rest, either: Bridesmaids, Feig’s 2011 commercial and critical success, starred an allfemale ensemble who still received tired questions about whether women can be funny.
The burden of making a good movie is heavy enough without having to prove a point, and it’s a weight straight, white men in the industry often don’t carry. In 2017, when
Hidden Figures crashed at the box office while Ben Affleck and Martin Scorsese had films that bombed, were many studios left skittish about older white guys’ financial viability?
No matter the makeup of the new Ghostbusters, it’ll end up standing for something bigger than pure nostalgia and a studio making money with a sequel.