20 Most Hated Film Remakes & Reboots In Movie History
14. Ghostbusters (2016)
The new Ghostbusters movie - from many of the same people that gave us the funny and critically approved Bridesmaids, The Heat, and Spy - is on the cusp of a worldwide release. However, bizarrely, it already holds the distinction of being the most reviled reboot or remake in cinematic history… and barely anybody has seen it yet.
A third instalment of the much loved supernatural comedy adventure franchise of the eighties had been tooling around in development hell for twenty-odd years, and with the original crew unable to agree a script to return to the fold, a reboot was announced in 2014 with Paul Feig in the hot seat - and an all female cast. Dun dun duuuuuuun.
The reactions were predictably hysterical... but they only got worse with the release of the first trailer in March. Viewed 24 million times in the space of a single day and 60 million times within a week, never has a major movie trailer been loathed this much: the YouTube upload is presently the most hated movie trailer on the website, with around a million ‘dislikes’.
The consensus seemed split between a few loud and obnoxious male chauvinists irritated at the all-female gimmick, and those who were appalled at just how… average it all seemed. Later trailers were a little better, but not enough to sway judgements that had already been made, and the updated Fall Out Boy version of that iconic theme tune made some wonder whether they were just screwing up marketing the movie on purpose.
The derision has become so over-the-top that, upon reading original Ghostbuster (and co-writer of the first two movies) Dan Ackroyd’s glowing advance review, people actually took to social media to accuse him of having been paid off by Feig et al.
At this early stage reviews seem to be mixed, meaning that rubbernecking at this cringeworthy car crash of a promotional campaign is almost certain to be more entertaining than watching the film itself.