Hi everybody. I was all the for a proper Gb3. I was over saturated with joy when it was announced in 2008 and i followed every rumor about the movie. The loss of Harold Ramis was a big one but still i hoped for a movie who would give the franchise a prosecution. I screamed in terror and rage when the reboot was announced. All i was thinking was McCarthy with diarrea in Brudesmaid. I laughed a Joker like laugh when Reitman announced that Ghost Corp was born.
Then something dawned on me. I’m tired to hate something i can’t change. I found a way to accept this thing. I still don’t like the idea of a reboot BUT:
1- it could be viewed as a cinematic What If? It will not delete our beloved movie. …it will only be a different take for the sake of it. What if Gwen Stacy was still alive? What if Peter Parker was the real clone? What if the Ghostbusters where women?
2- it could be viewed as the Ultimate Universe of the Gb franchise. Miles Morales didn’t put aside the original Peter Parker. They are two versions of the same hero. Better than Doc Ock taking control of Parker’s body (or Micheal B Jordan playing Winston)
I still don’t know if I’ll see it in the teathre…but I think the two universes can coexists. Then, if Ghost Corps will give us a sequel…we’ll, I’ll be very very happy.
One thing I’m sure… bustin’ will ever makes me feel good!
I am with you there Raystanz Italy. I am hoping at this point that this film does well enough to show that the world wants more Ghostbusters. If it succeeds maybe Ghost Corps will go forward with their projects what ever those may be. Maybe like Dan said before, we could get a traditional sequel to the original universe. If two separate universes co exist and continue to move forward at the same time, I personally welcome the “Oversaturation.” I can’t get enough of the Ghostbusters. I hope that a fire gets lit that might give us another cartoon series based on the original or since Lego Dimensions has incorporated Ghostbusters in that game, maybe we could get a official Lego Ghostbusters game. Maybe get a volume 3 of the Ongoing Comic Book. Any of those would be spectacular. Fiegbusters is still filming and is still a breathing entity until it wraps, so I am still not ruling out the possibility of some kind of fun twist at the end of the film that actually links this film with the others. Anything is possible at this point. Hey did you see that Macarthy and Wigg were sporting robes in recent shots to avoid spoilers. What do you think that is about. ;). If most here have already seen the uniforms what is there to hide? Interesting right?
I’m not against the reboot per se, and I’m liking what I see for the most part in the pictures. And I’m glad that the franchise is getting new life, and it’s true the original movies will still exist. But I’m always going to kind of resent the reboot for blocking the original universe from being expanded on. At the moment, I’m in a love/hate relationship with the new film.
I’ve been on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster about it.
When it was announced I was very excited thanks to the director and writer. I’m legit fans of both and wanted a female cast. I assumed there would be a guy thrown in the mix but whatever.
The cast was announced and I was, again, excited because I really like Wiig and McCarthy.
Then we learned it was a reboot and I got pretty upset.
Sure, the old movies will always exist and there will be a resurgence of Ghostbusters love, etc.
But it’s like that recent video of Kanye struggling to sing Bohemian Rhapsody. Or really any time -anyone- tries to cover Queen. You cannot improve perfection.
This, mixed with my desire to see the universe I love so much continue and my desire to see closure for the characters I’ve grown up with, left me disappointed. Especially since those things have been promised so often by Dan Aykroyd.
Since then we’ve had a leaked story breakdown that just sounds bad, which doesn’t help. And thanks to some fans lashing out in racist, sexist or otherwise moronic ways, I’ve grown frustrated with a lot of the fan community. And I’ve grown frustrated with the media labeling us all sexist or writing off every gripe as sexist or closed minded. Also frustrated with sections of the community, including some fan sites, talking down to anyone who isn’t a fan of the reboot or otherwise being condescending trolls about the whole thing.
So basically I’m frustrated with just about everything and I’m trying to work through it. I like a lot of what I’m seeing from the set. Complaining won’t stop it. It might turn out alright and I’m trying to remain indifferent.
I don’t mind it either. I’m a big NOES fan and when they remade the original, I took it as “its kind of like the original” running parallel to the original but made by someone else with different eyes. I liked it as a “clone” of the original, instead of hating it for not being the same.
I think I see this reboot the same way, except I feel there’s a tad much “feminism” in the recipe that somewhat overpowers the main flavor of the concept as a whole, shifting the focus away from what’s most important, the story..
Ghostbusters is my favourite film of all time so that’s why I make a fuss about something like this. I think what annoys me the most is the corrupt politics behind the whole thing. Why does it have to be all women Ghostbusters? Well because Paul Feig is a feminist that’s why. So they’re trying to force a movie onto us with values that are unnecessary. I have nothing against female Ghostbusters but this seems like a politically correct decision rather than a creative one and as we fans know what makes the core of Ghostbusters so much fun is that it’s politically incorrect.
By the way the suits, the Bigfoot and the Hendersons car and the half-hearted made proton packs look awful.
I see a director whose greatest strength is directing women. So it’s less an agenda and more playing to his strengths, which I would want him to do. I’m a white male and I’ll never truly understand what it’s like to be a woman in a male dominated world (it is). I know some of us want a man on the team so that we have someone to relate to. But what it boils down to is that it also can be perceived that this cast isn’t relavent it doesn’t have a male hero or that it becomes a chick flick without one. When you realize that we’ve placed these expectations on females, that they either love our male heroes or go to a sub genre specifically for them, you begin to see the dilemma of sexism. It’s not simply oppressing women, but it can be assuming that anything female led is an agenda or unessecary. I struggle with this, too. I’m a guy.
It’s funny: the very thing that makes feminism so necessary is the people who argue that it isn’t and claim it’s just an agenda. Women are more than half the people on the planet and we should be seeing them as equal in the world at large, including leading roughly half the movies, many of which will be reboots and remakes. We can factually observe that women are not getting that opportunity. If you passively accepted that, why does it bother you to see that imbalance go away?
I also disagree strongly with the notion that men can’t relate to women on the level that a film like Ghostbusters is going to ask them to. Is there some specific insight required to relate to the OG Ghostbusters? No, you just have to be an average person dealing with the supernatural for the first time (with a side of sarcasm / enthusiasm / logic / practical attitude).
I have said before, I find it strange how determined are people who dislike the reboot as its own thing are to see it connected to the originals. If you dislike it now, isn’t it better for you that it’s its own separate canon or universe? If it comes out, you hate it, but it’s still a smash, and then a potential Ghostbusters 3 brings that movie back into the story, aren’t you going to be more annoyed by that than the way it is now?
I don’t think any of this should have anything to do with feminism or “equality”
Some stories and roles work better for men, others for women. But to me this just feels like a distraction from the story, which is something no one is talking about…
I believe there are people who think these women were chosen over superior actors just because they’re women. Possibly that they were chosen over the original cast because Hollywood or Sony or someone was interested in establishing a more inclusive image and less concerned with the quality of their product. That is the center of a lot of the anti-PC backlash. It’s a backlash against those who feign an interest in social justice but whose true motivation is making themselves appear morally superior, often at the expense of the final product. Aka picking what’s hot over what works.
I don’t agree with that point of view and think Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy in particular are two of the top comedic performers in the world, and they’re proven box office draws. To me, based on their past performances, they’re perfect for carrying this property I love so much into the future.
As for connecting the reboot to the original… I don’t know. I’d like to see it happen. Partially because I think the new one owes an obvious debt to the original and I’d like to see it legitimately acknowledged (instead of mocked, as an insider at Indie Revolver claims). I’d also like to know my original universe and original characters are still there in one way or another and not replaced or forgotten.
I also wish the film had taken the concept in a different direction. I don’t have a clue what they could have done differently, but I’m leery of retreading the same territory as the original (which I consider a legitimately perfect film).
I’m reminded of something that happened a few years ago. I was with a friend and Bob Seager’s “Turn the Page” came on the radio. My friend said, “What’s this ■■■■? This is horrible! Kid Rock is so much better!” I don’t want the original to become Bob Seager.
I think what bothers me most is what most recent reboots feel like; design by committee. I don’t get a sense that somebody had a great idea or some creative twist to an existing franchise and wanted to put it to film. A group of people sat in a board room and crossed off a checklist of what Ghostbusters needs… Hearse? Check. Backpacks? Check. Four comedians? Check. I don’t feel any sense of creativity went into this project, it just feels like some big budget sweded film. This movie is perfectly analogous to the Robocop reboot; someone sat down, wanted money, looked at Robocop, and with a committee of people said… “Robot? check. Cop? check.”
Being in my 30s, I FINALLY have everything catered to me! New Terminator, Jurassic Park, New Star Wars(!), Ash v. Evil Dead, new X-Files season, Wet Hot American Summer prequel, … it’s a never-ending cavalcade of media geared to my generation and my disposable income! But this film? A complete sense of malaise.
To be fair, everything you named went through the same process you mentioned above.
Heck, even GB1 was changed by committee from aakyrod’s original concept. GB1 just seems free from it because it was the first in the series and was brilliant. GB2 underwent the same thing.
There’s miles of a difference between Ramis And Reitman helping Aykroyd develop his idea and make it an affordable story to tell, that’s what’s called a collaboration.
Vs.
The stiff studio dart board that Scuba is referring to.
But the things on your checklist are what I would consider the heart of what it means to be a Ghostbuster…proton packs, car, traps, ghost wrangling, etc. The committee approached Feig first to make their movie. He said no. He only said yes when they accepted his vision. If the above list was not checked off it would be back to the complaint that eveything is too different and not Ghostbusters.
Like BatDan said, that’s collaboration not committee. The worst reboots are the ones without anything new to offer; no new story or vision beyond retelling the original. That’s my concern. The reveals are quite telling since nothing but Ghostbusters bullet points have been shown so far… here are “the suits” here’s a pick of “the backpack” this is “the car” here are “the 4 comedians”. The only thing they’ve shown so far that IS an original concept is the idea of female Ghostbusters. The idea of having a female lead sci-fi comedy is a good start, I like the concept, but “they’re women now” can’t be the SOLE reason for remaking a story.
Look at some of Hollywood’s arguably worst remakes, because the Ghostbusters remake is starting to follow their trends…
Karate Kid - The only original vision in this film is using a black male as a lead.
Robocop - probably more “meh” than bad, it brings nothing new to the table simply trying to include a “robot” and “cop”
The Pink Panther - Trying to replace Sellers with even Martin was never going to work.
Psycho - A shot for shot remake with a big name actor.
Planet of the Apes - Essentially just retelling the exact same story with no unique vision… but this leads us to…
Hollywood’s better remakes…
Rise of the planet of the Apes - They came up with a clever and original story with a fresh take on the series.
Dredd - Scrapping the campy 90s film and going for a much closer take to the comics
Dawn of the Dead - almost a remake in just the name alone. I think it delivers enough fresh new ideas.
The Fly - This is how you remake a film! take the silly concept of the 50s and really bringing the practical effect/sci fi 80s tech with it for a ride.
True Grit - Very similar to the original, but with fantastic performances and brilliant directors, it feels like a much bigger picture than the original.
I just don’t see this new Ghostbusters having the ‘big vision’ good remakes need. I can guarantee by the end of the film they’ll make sure to hit all the right bullet points; the car, the backpacks, the suits, the silly home base, the bureaucrat, the big silly end monster reveal. I just don’t think the concept of swapping genders is enough to carry 2 hour film if the rest is boilerplate copy/paste cinema. I could be wrong, I may eat crow, but this thing is shaping up to be a big “meh” for summer 2016.
Sure, I understand that. The point was that GB1 is not reflective of the original vision.
A committee is basically a group of people that can vote on changes. This extends to studio managers, fellow comedians, etc. It’s just ‘collaboration’ is generally the better one to be part of since it means everyone has an equal say.
Well, Feig started that. Feig comes out and proclaims he is making a GB reboot with an all female team. Feig has an agenda, and this GB reboot is just part of it. Best thing to happen is for this reboot to die at the box office
