Ghostbusters trailer *Brand New* (2016)

[Silver Nemesis]

I don't know if you guys have heard about this but there are actually guys from Sony on Youtube at this very moment deliberately deleting negative feedback 

And not just the appalling language put downs of the cast and crew (which I don't approve of myself) but the more than reasonable analysis of why many feel disappointed. How did Ghostbusters come to this eh? Completely pathetic stuff. God forbid if the world ever gets another "Hitler". Imagine the horror of what can be done with social media propaganda now if this is for a mere bloody film lol

I've been keeping an eye on the comments, and you're absolutely right! It's hilarious. They're deleting the valid criticisms and leaving the authentically sexist ones so they can play the victim card and make it look like all the haters are misogynists. I've seen comments from people on other message boards saying they've been deleting some of the positive comments too. Sony's really panicking. And just check out some of the transparently fake comments left by studio plants. It's like an over-the-top parody of a viral marketing campaign that's gone horribly wrong.

And look at the down votes! As of me typing this, there are 178,380 down votes and only 99,430 up votes. That translates into an audience rating of 35.7% positive, 64.3% negative. At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if they end up disabling votes altogether.

The whole thing is unethical. If it breaks even it will be the biggest (negative) surprise of the year.

According to this article, the production budget is $154 million: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ghostbusters-budget-cut-fox-execs-789896
That includes a $14 million salary for McCarthy (seriously?) and $10 million for Feig himself.

Wow. The original film's budget was only $30 million. And adjusted for inflation, that's still only around $68 million. Once you factor in print and advertising costs, the new movie's going to have to make at least $400-500 million to break even. And judging from how toxic pre-release word of mouth is, I can't see it happening.

I recall a quote back in the 80s or 90s where someone described the Ghostbusters team as follows: Egon ii the brains, Peter the mouth and Ray the heart.  Unfortunately, I don't recall what body part Winston's role was related to, but he may have been described as 'the hands' (i.e. the most practical of the group).

Traditionally Winston was the mechanic in charge of Ecto-1. Watch carefully after he's hired in the first film and you'll see he's usually the one behind the wheel whenever they drive anywhere. He always drove Ecto-1 in the cartoon show too. I always thought that Winston was the muscle of the group as well, since Ernie Hudson seemed like the most muscular/athletic of the four.

I'm not a big Ghostbusters fan, so I'm truthfully not that emotionally invested. But yeah, this does follow a recent trend we're seeing with franchise media. Hijacking well known brands when new brands could be made instead. This seems like a politically correct version of Ghostbusters for the equality brigade. Like how all of a sudden James Bond has to be black, or Doctor Who must change sex or race to be relevant or edgy. 

Their loophole is anyone can be a Ghostbuster. But for me, it can't help but become Ghostbusters in name only. Or Bond/Doctor Who in name only. Mainly because we all know what came before. They were male roles. Here, it's Ghostbusters because we said so, and you, the viewing public better get on board with it. And if you don't, you're racist, sexist or homophobic. I really dislike it when gender games and politics creep into entertainment.

I'm all for females having leading roles, but I'm not a fan of hijacking existing media. Women and black actors are more than capable of carrying original roles and striking out on their own. For example, if the message is females can only be popular and strong willed if they play The Doctor, then I think that's rubbish.

If the film is basically a beat-for-beat remake of the original, I'm not sure I see the point of it. And if the film is poorly made, you're a dead duck anyway. Bottom line, I don't think we needed this film. Apart from the female cast, I don't see what's new or special about it. The original is always going to be revered, much like Robocop.

Excellent post, TDK. Agreed 100%.

Is anyone curious to hear director Paul Feig's thoughts on the fan backlash? We know the cast and studio head have expressed their hatred towards the fans. Here are a few of Feig's comments.

You all have no idea what we did, so stop acting like you do. Enough is enough. Just let this movie happen.

You're an ass. Oops, did I say that?

You've been ranting at me and my cast for months with misogyny and insults. So go f*** yourself. Goodnight.

http://www.slashfilm.com/paul-feig-ghostbusters-haters/

In the immortal words of Dr. Venkman:

[johnnygobbs]

I had a feeling that once the bad buzz regarding this film came out the filmmakers, especially Feig, would try to paint the negative response as misogyny as a means of guilt-tripping and/or discrediting its critics.     But I didn't imagine that they'd swoop to such transparently underhand means to make their critics look bad (i.e. by deleting legitimate criticisms yet retaining misogynist rants on the YouTube comments section).

That's why I think it's so important to stress, in places like this where we don't have to worry about Sony censoring our freedom of expression, that the apparent problem with this 'reboot' has absolutely nothing to do with the female cast and everything to do with the utter lack or originality behind it.

[riddler]

I think you're right about Ray being the most enthusiastic of the original team.  He always had a naïve, puppyish enthusiasm which really helped get the whole Ghostbusters enterprise going to begin with.  I don't think it would have got off the ground if it had been left to the relatively more detached and/or cynical Egon and Peter.

I recall a quote back in the 80s or 90s where someone described the Ghostbusters team as follows: Egon ii the brains, Peter the mouth and Ray the heart.  Unfortunately, I don't recall what body part Winston's role was related to, but he may have been described as 'the hands' (i.e. the most practical of the group).

I guess Winston is the most grounded one of the group; the blue collar working man. It seems the character had a bigger role when it was initially written for Eddie Murphy (for instance he would have been the one slimed instead of Peter in the first film) . Rather than remove the role when Murphy didn't sign on, they reduced it. They probably could have done without that role as Winston more or less just tags along and provides an extra proton pack but Ernie Hudson adds his own charm to the role.

[johnnygobbs]

Ghostbusters is a classic, but I wonder how amazing it would have been if Eddie Murphy had played Winston.  Imagine what a comedy powerhouse that would have been.

That said, I'm glad Winston wasn't the one who was slimed.  It's possible that people might have complained about the token black character being the guy who gets the short end of the stick.

[riddler]

Ghostbusters is a classic, but I wonder how amazing it would have been if Eddie Murphy had played Winston.  Imagine what a comedy powerhouse that would have been.

That said, I'm glad Winston wasn't the one who was slimed.  It's possible that people might have complained about the token black character being the guy who gets the short end of the stick.

I don't know, the character didn't die so people might have been okay, apparently Murphy's character was supposed to be the smartest of the group, they probably would have let him ad lib the way Bill Murray did (imagine the quips those two could have had).

They kind of made Winston more of an everyman which helps because the public doesn't exactly 'get' the ghostbusters. I like his portrayal in the cartoon where he embraces the Ecto mobile as his own baby. I guess his role ends up being simply another line of thinking for the group.

[johnnygobbs]

I don't know, the character didn't die so people might have been okay, apparently Murphy's character was supposed to be the smartest of the group, they probably would have let him ad lib the way Bill Murray did (imagine the quips those two could have had).

They kind of made Winston more of an everyman which helps because the public doesn't exactly 'get' the ghostbusters. I like his portrayal in the cartoon where he embraces the Ecto mobile as his own baby. I guess his role ends up being simply another line of thinking for the group.

So Winston would have been another scientist?  How do you think he would have played him?  Apart from The Nutty Professor Murphy's shtick has been playing the street-smart guy rather than the book-smart one.

And you're right.  Both Murray and Murphy ad-libbing throughout Ghostbusters could have been fun.  Unfortunately, I think Murray and Murphy have only appeared briefly on-screen together in a couple of early 1980s episodes of SNL.  I'm not sure but I think their respective tenures on the show just overlapped.

[riddler]

I don't know, the character didn't die so people might have been okay, apparently Murphy's character was supposed to be the smartest of the group, they probably would have let him ad lib the way Bill Murray did (imagine the quips those two could have had).

They kind of made Winston more of an everyman which helps because the public doesn't exactly 'get' the ghostbusters. I like his portrayal in the cartoon where he embraces the Ecto mobile as his own baby. I guess his role ends up being simply another line of thinking for the group.

So Winston would have been another scientist?  How do you think he would have played him?  Apart from The Nutty Professor Murphy's shtick has been playing the street-smart guy rather than the book-smart one.

And you're right.  Both Murray and Murphy ad-libbing throughout Ghostbusters could have been fun.  Unfortunately, I think Murray and Murphy have only appeared briefly on-screen together in a couple of early 1980s episodes of SNL.  I'm not sure but I think their respective tenures on the show just overlapped.

Murray left SNL the same year Eddie joined (1980). I don't know, it could have been gold it could have been a disaster, Bill Murray isn't exactly the easiest actor to work with, plenty of actors refuse to work with him and it could have been a scenario of Murray and Murphy trying to outdo themselves (two different actors ad libbing can be tough).

I kind of picture Murray as Jim Carrey's kids in me, myself, and Irene. Treating people like fools for not knowing technical stuff. Also keep in mind that Eddie Murphy would have taken screentime from Murray whom most feel is the best character.

[johnnygobbs]

Murray left SNL the same year Eddie joined (1980). I don't know, it could have been gold it could have been a disaster, Bill Murray isn't exactly the easiest actor to work with, plenty of actors refuse to work with him and it could have been a scenario of Murray and Murphy trying to outdo themselves (two different actors ad libbing can be tough).

I kind of picture Murray as Jim Carrey's kids in me, myself, and Irene. Treating people like fools for not knowing technical stuff. Also keep in mind that Eddie Murphy would have taken screentime from Murray whom most feel is the best character.

You're right about the potential danger in having two comic actors trying to out-do one another, especially in view of Murray's notoriously prickly reputation (although I think this was before Murphy developed an ego), but it might have contributed to more of a group dynamic.  Egon is inherently funny because he has no social skills, and Ray is the enthusiastic wide-eyed one, but I do wish Winston had been given more to do.  One of my favourite moments is when Winston gets the line: "Ray, when someone asks you if you're a god, you say 'YES!'"  I just wish Winston had been given some more witty lines.

And I like your idea about how Eddie could potentially have played Winston, rolling his eyes impatiently with the non-scientists.    But would Winston have been even smarter than Egon?  Egon struck me as the one with amazing intellectual prowess and absolutely no clue socially-speaking.

[The Dark Knight]

Excellent post, TDK. Agreed 100%.

Thanks, I thought you would.

[riddler]

And I like your idea about how Eddie could potentially have played Winston, rolling his eyes impatiently with the non-scientists.    But would Winston have been even smarter than Egon?  Egon struck me as the one with amazing intellectual prowess and absolutely no clue socially-speaking.

Similar to how Slimer got Peter instead of Winston once the role was reduced, it's possible the other characters absorbed traits and plot points initially intended for Winston. Perhaps Egon wouldn't have been as smart with Murphy there. Or it would have played out like the big bang theory with Winston similar to Sheldon Cooper being snobbishly brilliant and Egon like Leonard; still brilliant but not quite on genius level.