Whatever your thoughts about the film itself, it’s hard not to feel bad for the team behind 2016’s Ghostbusters reboot. Sony surely thought they had a winner with their timely, all-female relaunch of the beloved 80s comedy franchise, but unfortunately, the movie was plagued with bad publicity from the start. Combined with mediocre reviews, that led to the pic underperforming at the box office, sucking all hope for a sequel into a ghost trap.
Director Paul Feig, however, still hopes that the studio changes its mind, as he’s said numerous that he would definitely get back behind the camera for a sequel if he ever got the chance to. Whether that’ll happen or not remains to be seen, but in a new interview with The Telegraph, Feig’s opened up a bit about the reception that his reboot was met with, comparing it to Hilary Clinton’s Presidential campaign.
“I have been dying for somebody to look at Hillary Clinton’s campaign and us, because we were caught in the exact same vortex. It was shocking. I still think about it a lot, honestly — sometimes I’m like, ‘OK, stop thinking about it.’ Because I’m really proud of the movie, and while people still send me mean things, overwhelmingly more people tell me they love it.”
For what it’s worth, I think the main problem with movies like the Ghostbusters reboot aren’t the gender of the cast, it’s that they’re just not very good. If Hollywood wants to play the progressive card and break through that female-ensemble blockbuster glass ceiling, that’s perfectly fine. But they need to focus on making great films rather than trying to skate by on feel-good political vibes, which is what Sony tried to do with Feig’s effort.
Still, given that the Ghostbusters franchise is too popular to stay dead, it’s likely that we’ll either get a direct sequel to the 2016 reboot at some point or perhaps a spinoff of some sort. Regardless, the property will be back on our screens before long and when it does return, we can only hope that it’s met with a better reception than Paul Feig’s film received.