10 Movies That Totally Misunderstood Their Audience
2. Ghostbusters (2016)
There were always going to be sexist a**holes who wouldn't give 2016's Ghostbusters a chance, yet on paper the idea of a gender-swapped sequel starring some of the most famous female comedians on the planet seemed like it could actually work.
Yet there were myriad conceptual problems that showed how little Sony and writer-director Paul Feig actually understood the core appeal of Ghostbusters.
For starters, the film was needlessly fashioned as a reboot rather than a sequel to the original movies, denying the potential for a future team-up with the original heroes.
Beyond that, it's a pretty listless reboot which recycled iconic moments fans loved from the original, yet offered up little fresh of its own.
But worst of all, the depressingly thin script evidently relied way too much on the improvisational talents of its cast, and it's hardly fair to expect them to prop up a $144 million (!) tentpole on the spot.
It's telling that the recent Ghostbusters: Afterlife - which returned to the original continuity and featured cameos from the original heroes - proved far more successful with audiences.