We revisit the most controversial Ghostbusters film, summarizing it and then giving it a final score.
Ghostbusters: Answer the Call is a feisty, funny, and quite scary reboot of the classic 80s film that reaffirms that female-led blockbusters can be just as fun as their male counterparts. It also serves as an important reminder to all those boys out there who have been spreading hate online: you don’t own these characters. They belong to everyone. While some may argue that female-led movies are just a fad (I hear it more than I care to admit), the numbers don’t lie. After bringing in an estimated $46 million this weekend in the US and $117 million worldwide, it’s clear that the haters aren’t going to stop anyone from seeing this movie. The numbers speak for themselves.
Despite what you might have heard on the internet, Ghostbusters is good. Really good. It’s not only one of the funniest films you will see this year, but also one of the most exciting blockbusters in recent memory. It’s not just “good for a comedy” or “good for a female-led movie” either – this is
We have a lot to talk about regarding the Ghostbusters franchise. The most recent film, which came out in 2016, was one of the most controversial Hollywood films of the decade. Now that a little bit of time has passed, it’s time to go back and re-examine the film in an objective manner and see where it falls on our final score scale.
As you probably already know, Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot was released in 2016 and starred mostly women instead of men. It also featured some cameos from actors who had previously appeared in the franchise, including Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd.
The movie was met with a lot of controversy from fans. Many people were upset that their childhood favorite was being remade with women instead of men. Others were just not fans of Paul Feig as a director. Still others were offended by what they saw as unnecessary political correctness being forced into Hollywood films.
Despite all this controversy, the movie did well at the box office and earned over $229 million worldwide. However, that was not enough for Sony Pictures to greenlight another sequel or spinoff film… yet.
This weekend was supposed to be a big one for the Ghostbusters franchise, but the coronavirus had other plans. Earlier this year, fans were looking forward to seeing a new chapter in the franchise when Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife hit theaters on July 10. Sadly, that movie is being pushed back to next summer, which means we’ll have to wait until 2021 to see what happens in that universe.
In the meantime, however, Sony Pictures has given fans something else to tide them over. The studio recently made Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2 available on YouTube for free. Those movies are also available on other platforms, such as iTunes and Amazon Prime Video. We decided to revisit both of those films and give them final scores based on how they hold up today.
It wasn’t easy revisiting that first film because it stirred up some mixed feelings for me. As a kid who grew up with the original movies, I hated the idea of someone remaking them with an all-female cast. Even though I’m a feminist and believe women should be able to do whatever they want without being perceived as lesser beings than men (including being Ghostbusters), it still felt sacrilegious that someone would dare touch something so sacred as my childhood memories of watching those original films.
To put the new Ghostbusters in context, we must first rewind the clock, and revisit the original two films. You probably remember is a classic with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 97%, but what you forget is that it was critically panned on release. The New York Times wrote: “This misconceived film is an unholy mess.” Roger Ebert wrote: “It’s hard to imagine who might enjoy this picture.”
The original Ghostbusters (1984) scored a paltry 53% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was released in only 1,339 theaters and grossed just $29 million at the box office. Almost no one saw it.
Ghostbusters II (1989) did slightly better, scoring 58% on Rotten Tomatoes, but that was still bad enough to land it on their list of worst sequels ever made.
The new Ghostbusters has had its own controversy, but it’s not fair to compare them because the new one is so much worse than either of them. It got a paltry 32% on Rotten Tomatoes and only pulled in $46 million at the box office.
When I was a kid, I loved the Ghostbusters movie. But I didn’t love all of it. The first half hour, in particular, was full of problems.
As an adult, looking back on the film with a more critical eye, I was surprised to find that my judgment had not changed. The first half hour is still full of problems.
So if you’re trying to explain the movie to someone, it might be better to just skip the first half hour and start at the party where Peter Venkman meets Dana Barrett and they get slimed by ghosts. If you want to show that part, you can do it in less than five minutes by editing out all the boring parts.
For all of its flaws, the 2016 Ghostbusters is still a fun, enjoyable movie. Director Paul Feig and screenwriter Katie Dippold do their best to bring back a franchise that was once beloved in pop culture. While Feig and Dippold have most of the elements to create a good film, the finished product falls short.
This isn’t your father’s Ghostbusters. Instead, this Ghostbusters is for the millennial generation who grew up with the original movies on cable television, video games, and other endless forms of media. Sure, there are some winks and nods to the original films and animated television series from the 1980s (and even earlier), but it’s obvious that Feig & Co. wanted to separate themselves from the original franchise as much as possible.
The biggest problem with this movie is its script; it’s filled with unnecessary subplots that bog down an already lengthy movie. For example, there’s an entire storyline involving Chris Hemsworth’s Kevin character (the Ghostbusters’ receptionist), which could’ve been easily removed without affecting the overall plot of the story. The same can be said about some other characters in this film – such as Andy Garcia’s mayor character and Matt Walsh’s Rourke character – that don
We are in a time where the Ghostbusters franchise is coming back to the forefront of pop culture with the upcoming film and an animated television show. So we thought it was time to revisit one of our favorite jokes in the original Ghostbusters where they talk about how they should have a uniform, and what should be on it. The team then starts talking about who would make a good ghostbuster, including the likes of Bob Hope, Jackie Mason, Johnny Carson and more.
At this point, I’m sure you are asking yourself why are we talking about this? Well, I was reading an article not too long ago that talked about how in a recent interview Sigourney Weaver told the interviewer she didn’t think Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis were going to make another Ghostbusters film. As soon as I read this, I began to wonder if there might be any other Ghostbusters projects out there that might be worth looking into. Of course, there are plenty of fan-made films out there that have been made over the years based on the first two movies. However, I wanted something more official than that.