Surely the âGhostbustersâ news cycle is older than Zuul by this point. It feels like the new reboot has been stirring up rumors and controversy for ages. But this weekend, finally, four women will strap on proton packs and rescue New York City from paranormal forces. Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones star in the update of the 1984 classic. Itâs directed by Paul Feig, who made âBridesmaids,â âThe Heatâ and âSpy.â What else should you know about the film?
Letâs recap its gestation and release in the form of several relatively spoiler-free questions:
Is it just a reboot of the original with women instead?
Yes and no. The general context is the same: Three paranormal investigators respond to a potential haunting, recruiting a fourth member along the way. Eventually they save New York City from ghostly destruction. The characters are similar, but not identical, to the ones Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson brought to life in the 1984 original. The New York Public Library doesnât play a part in this one, and thereâs no house call that turns into a romantic conquest. The quartet is, however, still vanquishing an evil mastermind channeling another dimension in hopes of conjuring up the apocalypse. You will see the Ecto-1 car, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, Slimer and the classic theme song (repurposed terribly by Fall Out Boy and Missy Elliott).
What ever happened to âGhostbusters 3â?
Well, in many ways, thatâs how we got here in the first place. Dan Aykroyd wrote a script for a third âGhostbustersâ installment in the 1990s. Called âGhostbusters 3: Hellbent,â the story found the Ghostbusters meeting the devil as their business floundered. But the rest of the cast wasnât so keen to return, especially Bill Murray, who wavered publicly about his involvement, telling David Letterman in 2010 that heâd only participate if his character âwas killed off in the first reel.â Still, Ivan Reitman, who directed and produced the first two movies, reportedly signed on to helm the third installment. From there, the project was plagued by starts and stops, with Aykroyd saying in 2012 that Murray would not be part of it, if the three-quel were made at all. As recently as 2013, Aykroyd still indicated the movie was a go. (âI read one that Danny [Aykroyd] wrote that was crazy bizarre and too crazy to comprehend,â Murray said of the âGhostbusters 3â script in 2014.)
But Ramis, who played Dr. Egon Spengler, died in 2014, and Reitman bowed out of the project one month afterward. The script was revised, and Paul Feig signed on to direct instead. It soon became clear that he was not making âGhostbusters 3,â though â he had his eye on a female-centered reboot. With that, âGhostbusters 3â was slimed. Katie Dippold, who wrote âThe Heat,â was brought on to compose the reboot script with Feig. She confirmed to The Huffington Post earlier this week that she was never involved with âGhostbusters 3.â Feig tweeted a collage of McCarthy, Wiig, McKinnon and Jones in January 2015, leading to speculation that they were the finalized cast. (Emma Stone said she turned down one of the roles because âa franchise is a big commitment.â) By July, Feig gave us the first glimpse of the quartet in uniform.
And what about that all-male reboot?
Oh yeah, that. As Feig was in negotiations with Sony, Anthony and Joe Russo, who directed the two most recent âCaptain Americaâ movies, also discussed potential âGhostbustersâ remakes with the studio. Their version, billed in the media as a âcounterpartâ to Feigâs, would have stemmed from Ghost Corps, a new production company formed by Aykroyd and Reitman. The hope was to cast Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt. But after Deadline reported the news, it was quickly contradicted. A Birth Movies Death follow-up indicated the male- and female-centric movies would operate in tandem, eventually leading to a huge convergence of all the Ghostbusters. There was also a prequel of some sort in the works.
But before we knew it, the Tatum-Pratt project was quashed altogether. âThere is no status with that for us,â Joe Russo told Forbes earlier this year. âThere was a period there when Paul Feig was engaging Sony in talks about âGhostbustersâ and we were also engaging them. He was further along with his process than we were and he closed his deal, so thatâs the only âGhostbustersâ world thatâs being explored right now over at Sony. Once we took âInfinity War,â it [took] us off the table for any kind of any potential work on a âGhostbustersâ project.â
Did we really need to endure all that online misogyny along the way?
How about we stop giving voices to sexist dudes stuck in a far lamer era? If you havenât already heard about the chauvinistic reactions from 33-year-old man-children still anticipating their next frat kegger, read about it here.
âI see people complaining on Twitter, like, âWhatâs my son going to be able to look up to if itâs women?ââ Dippold told HuffPost. âItâs like, âNo, you just answered your own question. He will look up to these women.â It will hopefully have a great impact on this ridiculous world we live in.â
So, is âGhostbustersâ any good?
Reviews have been positive but tepid. My stance is this: You can see where the film has âstudio tentpoleâ written all over it. (Feig said he canât even admit that McKinnon plays a lesbian in the film, so you know Sony has wielded a tight grip.) The action is bloated, and the editing is choppy. The characters donât have room to lean into their individual quirks, and even though there are plenty of laughs (at least in the first half), the totality feels strained. That said, weâre talking about a cast of improvisors who are known for uproarious reaction shots. There are plenty of those. If only the ladies could have riffed more. Perhaps itâs the family-friendlier PG-13 rating that prevented them from reaching maximum weirdness. Regardless, itâs cheerful and enjoyable, and whoâs going to complain about that?
As of now, the movie has a decent 73 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes â though some online writers are wondering whether male critics, whose numbers outweigh their female counterparts, were harsher toward the movie, thereby dampening its reception. Despite the filmâs flaws, it has a winning spirit. Dana Stevens explained it well in her Slate review: âThese women are having fun just being together and getting to don matching jumpsuits and whale on undead spirits, and their evident joy makes us happy to hop in the hearse for a ride-along.â
Who is the movieâs breakout star?
Easy: Kate McKinnon. Wiig and McCarthyâs roles are a little thankless â itâs Jones and McKinnon who get most of the laughs, as their characters are more outlandish. McKinnon probably has the fewest lines, but sheâs still the movieâs ace. Itâs because sheâs a pitch-perfect reactor, as often seen on âSaturday Night Live.â Her body language and facial expressions are zany gold, and the movie knows to let her eccentricity emerge in just the right places. Also look out for adorable cameos from Zach Woods and Ed Begley Jr.
Iâve heard the original cast returns.
Thatâs not a question. Anyway, this has been confirmed for quite some time, and yes, Murray, Aykroyd, Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts all pop up.
Is there an end-credit sequence?
Yep! It includes a major callback to the original.
Will âGhostbustersâ be a hit?
This is a rotten summer for blockbusters. Most sequels and reboots have underperformed, partly because they arenât good and partly because not many people were invested in them in the first place. Box office forecasters expect âThe Secret Life of Pets,â which opened to dynamite dollars last week, to challenge âGhostbustersâ for the weekendâs No. 1 slot. The industryâs coveted international coffers took a blow this week when China announced it would not release âGhostbustersâ because the country bans entertainment that âpromote[s] cults or superstition.â As of Tuesday, Variety and Deadline predicted âPetsâ would top âGhostbustersâ by as much as $20 million domestically, despite impressive pre-sales for the latter. That doesnât mean itâs an outright bomb, considering âPetsâ is coming off an overwhelming $104.4 million debut. The end goal is for âGhostbustersâ to recoup its $144 million budget, which shouldnât prove difficult.
How about a sequel?
Is this Hollywood? Producer Amy Pascal says the franchiseâs possibilities are âendless.â Reitmanâs Ghost Corps production company is still in the picture, but Reitman has made it clear that he doesnât know the full plan yet. He called the Tatum-Pratt rumors âbullshitâ in an iO9 interview earlier this week, while still stating his team has âa number of things that are in the works already.â We at home know that one of those âthingsâ is an animated movie.
Who ya gonna call?
Your mom, hopefully, to tell her how great it is that women are headlining an expensive studio comedy. And then your (future) children, to tell them that one day we will no longer consider such things revelatory.
âWe were in the middle of production and getting hammered on all sides just trying to make this funny movie, and I get sent this picture on the internet of this guy who made his daughter the jumpsuit with the orange stripes and a proton pack,â Feig told The Daily Beast. âThis little girl, looking fierce. I burst into tears. This is why weâre doing it. Itâs not for all these guys!â