As July 15th draws ever closer Sony Pictures Entertainment will be increasing the marketing presence for Paul Feig's Ghostbusters to generate enough hype and buzz around the movie so that it can, at the very least, recuperate its production budget of $154 million. The movie has received wave after wave of negativity since its announcement, with the first trailer being labeled as the most disliked trailer in Youtube's history, leading to the release of the second trailer being promoted through Facebook to avoid more negativity. Director Paul Feig has defended the movie repeatedly from what he calls a "misogynistic and vile" vocal minority of internet haters. In reaction to the sexist remarks against the movie political correctness advocates and feminists have supported the movies boldness, being the first in a wave of planned movies that will reboot established 'classics' with a genderswapped female leading cast, with Oceans Eleven (below) rumored to be also getting a feminist facelift.
Speaking to THR Sony's domestic marketing president Dwight Caines echoed Feig's previous statements...
"What tends to happen with a beloved property is the fanboy or the fangirl shows up and says, 'How dare you remake this?'... The people talking are such a tiny percentage of the people viewing. The first trailer got 70 million views. The number of people talking: less than 100,000, and they are trying to define the experience."
The above statement is the beginning of Sony's rumored damage control and an attempt by the studio to protect its sizable investment; an investment that, in Sony's defense, the studio should have never made...
After almost a decade of waiting for Bill Murray to return co-creators Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis (and a small team of comedy writers) were ready to begin production on the long-awaited Ghostbusters 3, with director Ivan Reitman prepping to begin filming in early 2015. Following the death of Ramis in February 2014, Reitman stepped down from the director's chair to instead produce the project. Rather than fulfill the search for his replacement co-chairperson of the studio Amy Pascal instead greenlit on the basis of no more than an email proposal Paul Feig's plan to reboot the franchise with a genderswapped leading cast. Such actions would seem questionable, but in early 2015 Pascal was sacked after leaked emails in the infamous 2014 scandal showed the executive in a racist and sexist light.
While we commend Sony's decision to honor their contractual obligation to the movie with their support, in an obvious attempt to salvage as much as they can in box office returns, the facts remain that while a small percentage of the vocal minority have attacked the movie through the use of sexual hatred and social ignorance, the remainder have expressed their dissatisfaction with the product that Paul Feig has created and their dissatisfaction on how the planned and eagerly awaited sequel was cast aside.
The majority of the vocal minority have spoken in their hundreds of thousands against this movie, with critics, both male and female, criticizing the movies lack of comedy, lack of originality and its overbearing use of sexism, racism, and faux-feminism. Some outlets have refrained from offering their opinion, instead sitting on the proverbial fence with a neutral stance so as not to upset the increasing number of feministic supporters of the movie that have labeled any that critique the film as sexist and chauvinistic.
With Hollywood facing ever increasing criticisms regarding its casting practices and decisions from an increasing number of socially conscious commentators, the level of such criticisms is far exceeding the relevance and importance placed upon them. The cast and crews of many movies are becoming the targets of hate campaigns over whether or not a role is or isn't depicted in the way the public expects. Whether or not Perry White is black, or the Ancient One is white is inconsequential. What matters is the quality of the final product and the performances of those cast in the roles, regardless of their color, creed or sex.
The problem with Ghostbusters is that it is a poorly acted (pictured above), unfunny, offensive reboot of a beloved franchise that nobody wanted, and that only continues to make headlines by hypocritically wallowing in the very sins it cries out against.
Treat Yourself to Sci-Fi Swag!
We've partnered with the folks at TeePublic to give fans the opportunity to support one another and express their interests by owning customized, unique merchandise based on their favorite science fiction franchises! Designs are created by fans and a portion of proceeds from each sale go to supporting the artists and their work! Check out the entire store and see if anything gets your attention!
