Ghostbusters 2016 Director Reflects On Internet Backlash 6 Years Later
Ghostbusters director Paul Feig reflects on the movie's controversy six years later. Released in 2016, Ghostbusters, later titled Ghostbusters: Answer the Call on home video, rebooted the iconic film franchise with a female cast in the lead roles with Kirsten Wiig, Mellisa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon. The movie was one of many in a string of reboots Hollywood became obsessed with in the wake of Batman Begins, yet unlike the reboot of Robocop or Karate Kid, which were also both revivals of beloved '80s films, the discussion around Ghostbusters was much nastier.
The film's trailer quickly became the most disliked movie trailer in YouTube history and the film's marketing buildup carried with it a wave of online harassment. The movie premiered on July 15, 2016, with a $46 million dollar opening weekend. While the film did gross $229.1 million worldwide it was seen as a box office disappointment as the film carried a budget of $144 million and with marketing cost, would have had to gross $300 million to be a hit. Plans for a sequel were scrapped and Sony instead opted for a legacy sequel approach with Ghostbusters: Afterlife which was released in 2021.
Related: How Ghostbusters: Afterlife Reviews & Box Office Compare To The 2016 Reboot
In an interview withTHR, Ghostbusters director Paul Feig discussed the controversy surrounding the film. He believes had the film been released earlier or even later it may not have had such feverous discourse, but the film's release coincided with a very tense time in America's history as it opened just five months before the 2016 President Election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Feig did say a lot of online discussions hit him hard as he had a good relationship with
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