12 Movies From 2016 That Were Unfairly Hated
4. Ghostbusters
A third Ghostbusters film has been in the works since as far back as the franchise’s last outing in 1989, but star Bill Murray’s reluctance to revisit his role as Peter Venkman and the eventual death of Egon Spengler actor Harold Ramis in 2015 scuppered any chance of a reunion sequel. So, the announcement that Paul Feig would be directing a Ghostbusters reboot rather than sequel wasn’t too much of a surprise, but the revelation that the movie would feature a – shock! horror! – all-female cast was met with quite the backlash. Feeling it a gimmicky, man-hating concept, internet warriors worldwide took to social media to voice their concerns and when the first trailer for the movie aired it became the most disliked film trailer in YouTube history.
It’s always dangerous territory remaking or rebooting a much-loved original film, but the reaction to the new Ghostbusters pretty much doomed it from the outset. Admittedly, the final product wasn’t a patch on the original and while not a perfect film by any stretch the Ghostbusters reboot definitely wasn’t awful. Gender wars aside it was funny, silly, featured a great cast (especially the brilliant Kate McKinnon) and conjured up some imaginative and genuinely creepy ghost characters.
Would Ghostbusters have gotten as much hate had it reprised its original cast and been an all-male reboot instead? Probably some, but we’ll never know for sure. If anything, the fact that three quarters of the original ghost-busting team appeared in cameo roles and that the movie had original director Ivan Reitman’s seal of approval should show it isn’t half as bad as some would have you believe.