Ivan Reitman isn’t the only one who believes Ghostbusters cost a pretty penny.
Last year, Sony and Bridesmaids director Paul Feig teamed up to pump fresh blood (ectoplasm?) into the iconic franchise, resulting in an all-female reimagining that placed Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon in the famous proton packs. Emerging from a trying production process – online trolls continued to hurl insults throughout development, and generally cast a dark shadow over the film’s release – Feig’s bold reboot struggled to make much of a dent at the worldwide box office, after mustering a relatively modest $230 million. Not exactly the triumphant comeback Sony had in mind following a 30-year absence, then.
While appearing on UK chat show Sunday Brunch (via THR), series stalwart Dan Aykroyd was particularly critical of Paul Feig’s purported mishandling of the Ghostbusters reboot, claiming that the director’s creative oversights hiked budget costs by around $30m to $40 million.
[Ghostbusters] made a lot of money around the world but just cost too much, making it economically not feasible to do another one. So that’s too bad. The director, he spent too much on it. He didn’t shoot scenes we suggested to him and several scenes that were going to be needed and he said, ‘Nah, we don’t need them.’ Then we tested the movie and they needed them and he had to go back. About $30m to $40-million in reshoots. So he will not be back on the Sony lot any time soon.
Choice words indeed. Soon after those comments found their way online, though, one source close to the production refuted Aykroyd’s allegations, telling THR that, “the studio had an incredible relationship with the director, who was first-rate,” before adding that those reshoots cost “about $3-4 million.”
Regardless of how things panned out behind the scenes, Ghostbusters looks to have been placed on ice for the foreseeable future. That means no direct sequel or spinoff to Feig’s divisive reimagining – not yet, at least – though longtime fans of the series can at least take solace in Ivan Reitman’s plans for a new animated movie.