The DVD of Ghostbusters comes out today, will you get it? Everyone involved is hoping that DVD and streaming will help make up the disappointing box office take for the summer film. The reboot received decent enough reviews but it never quite shook the comparisons to the original 1984 surprise hit. And it came no where near the original’s $700 million gross. Naturally, fingers are being pointed at who is to blame for the flop. Some think the internet trolls won. Others blame botched marketing. Original Ghostbuster co-star, Ernie Hudson, thinks its because they did not develop the relationships in the film enough, which is a shame, he says, because “the girls” in it are fun.
“Ghostbusters” star Ernie Hudson says the “relationships” between characters in the female-driven reboot of the 1984 poltergeist classic didn’t compel him.
“There were things we had in the original ‘Ghostbusters,’ the relationships that I think were important, and it wasn’t in the new movie,” Hudson told us at the Epix premiere of “Graves” at MoMA.
“I knew the studio would do a sequel because honestly, there’s money there,” he said. “(Producers) thought going with the girls would keep people from comparing the two, but the fans were very adamant about what they wanted, they tried to ignore that. I think the result shows.”
“I think the girls are very talented, very funny,” he said. “It wasn’t a bad movie.”
This isn’t the first time he’s talked about “the girls,” and it is usually as he is praising them. I know he think his descriptions are fine, like when he called them collectively “foxy,” but they really aren’t appropriate. As we are currently witnessing the result of giving people a pass for these antiquated and clichéd terms, let’s agree that labels matter. Do better, Ernie.
What is also questionable is Ernie’s constant flip-flopping on this film. At first he questioned calling it “Ghostbusters” if they were changing it so much (i.e. all-female). Then he softened and said that if they do make it, hopefully it will be funny and if not funny than “sexy as hell.” He initially refused to appear in the remake but changed his mind once the other surviving original leads excitedly filmed their cameos. To his credit, he did back the film earnestly once on board:
Today was one of the most fun days of my career. Great respect for Paul and this amazing cast of ladies. pic.twitter.com/QpNssCDL6L
— Ernie Hudson (@Ernie_Hudson) September 20, 2015
In addition to appearing with the original cast to support the new cast on Kimmel, Ernie said, “I think a lot of the criticism will go away once they see the movie, because I think the movie is going to be pretty extraordinary.” So why the back-pedaling now? At least he hasn’t wavered on his condemnation of the hate Leslie Jones received.
I still don’t know why the movie didn’t do better. It wasn’t a great movie, but I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the first. Neither of them were works of cinematic genius but both had great casts going for them. I am still pretty excited to pick up the DVD, I hear the extended scenes and extras are great. And I do hope it makes a lot in DVD sales, so projects like the all-female Ocean’s 8 continue to get green-lighted. All female movies won’t always get it right, but they deserve the chance to be considered.
Photo credit: WENN Photos and Instagram
I didn’t think this movie was funny at all. I really wanted to like it but….sorry no. The script was the problem.
I disagree, only based on what you quote in this article. The reboot was a “girls” reboot so I see nothing wrong with labelling it that way. I actually thought the movie was terrible. It was too much of a direct copycat of the original film. I don’t think there’s many movies I would like to see literally remade, but added on, changed and evolved… well that would have been awesome. But this movie didn’t deliver that. It could have, because the cast are amazing and the idea has great potential. But what worked 30 years ago doesn’t mean it will work now.
Every thing Camille said is what I wanted to say. Exactly.
There was something about that movie that spoke to the little girl I was, who ran around the playground playing Star Wars and superheroes and yes, even Ghostbusters. I had a feeling watching that movie like I think I should be feeling at the prospect of electing our first female President.
Was it a great movie? Not really. Did it miss opportunities? Loads. Is it as good as the first? It couldn’t be, but it was solid enough. I did enjoy it. And there were some things they did better than the first, like the leadup to the big final battle. The action scenes were much better in this one.
My husband said something about how different the movies were, which I think is true. The first movie was a comedy with action, and the remake was an action with comedy.
My advice is to try to watch it on its own merits and not compare it to the original. And I love Kate McKinnon so much. I AM Holtzmann. And Chris Hemsworth is hilarious.
I’m with you on this. The two were very different films. I think 99% of the people criticizing the film are holding it to an impossible standard by comparing it to the original film. Some people are upset that’s it’s too different, some people are upset that it’s too similar. They really couldn’t win. I really liked enjoyed the movie, and I can’t remember the last time I saw a comedy in the theater.
I’m with this! I wanted to see it in a theater and enjoyed the heck out of the experience. It was a completely different movie based on the same idea.
I loved the movie! It actually did extremely well domestically – the best live action comedy gross since Pitch Perfect 2, or something like that. The reason why it did poorly overseas due to a lack of a Chinese release. LIke, it’s not a sucky movie and it didn’t “fail” because of women. Really sick of hearing this angle on what was essentially a standard franchise reboot.
Harrumph! I’m still mad at Ernie for participating in the original. The white ghostbusters are academic scientists. Him? He is a janitor who gets drafted in because he drives a hearse. He barely has any lines, fgs. Maybe he was desperate for a job but then he needs to stop lionizing that mess. Be like Sigourney Weaver who hasnt said much. I hope it’s because she knows the sexualisation of the demon possessed character was problematic and doesnt want to be constantly associated with that role. Not when her legacy is something is great as Alien.
I didnt catch the new version in theaters so yeah, I’ll be buying the DVD.
That’s not the backstory at all. He was not a janator in the original, he was an ex-Marine looking for work. Dan Ackroyd is the one who finds and buys the car. In the new one he’s the owner of a chain of funeral homes and Ackroyd is a taxi driver. I agree the character was not well-developed at all (it got cut down when the studio knew they had Bill Murray and yes, he says he needed the role); but you are completely wrong about the story.
No spoilers, but I like Sig’s cameo in the new Ghostbusters movie.
I had some serious misgivings about Leslie’s role in this one, because it looked like she was going to be just the sassy sidekick to the smart white girls. I felt somewhat better about it after having seen it, because they make it clear that she is as smart and knowledgeable as anyone else. I’m not 100% okay with it still, but it’s not as bad as I thought.
Nope. I remember this because we rewatched it recently and we had to pause the disc for a rant when he shows up. They didnt even give him the dignity of an early entrance. He is basically a desperate jobless black dude. I remember him saying he would accept janitorial work or something, as does my sister who I watched it with. If theres a military background it isnt played up, certainly not the way the other boys scientific background is.
Also, my sis just sent me a link of Ernie addressing the Bill Murray excuse. In his own words: “When I originally got the script, the character of Winston was amazing and I thought it would be career-changing. The character came in right at the very beginning of the movie and had an elaborate background: he was an Air Force major something, a demolitions guy. It was great. …So we go to New York and we rehearse for three weeks. The night before filming begins, however, I get this new script and it was shocking. The character was gone. Instead of coming in at the very beginning of the movie, like page 8, the character came in on page 68 after the Ghostbusters were established. His elaborate background was all gone, replaced by me walking in and saying, “If there’s a steady paycheck in it, I’ll believe anything you say.”.”
He goes on to say that he didn’t sleep that night and spoke to the director first thing that morning which was when he invoked the Bill Murray excuse but when Ernie asked that he atleast be an original member not a latter ad on, he refused. It would have cost them less than a minute screentime to give him an early entry and have him around from the beginning even as a supporting character. It wasnt like the editing was particularly tight. Just off the top of my head, they could easily have lost a stalker neighbor scene and invested that in Ernies character. They didn’t because they considered his character the most disposable. It couldn’t be clearer that he was a “token PoC”.
I took my two boys to the movie & we loved it! It was a great family movie and I was so happy to show them a movie where there were multiple female characters being funny and smart. They loved it and my boy still goes around pretending to shoot things and then licking his ‘blaster’.
I will be buying the DVD & watching outtakes tonight. Thanks because my night is planned now!
Yes! I took my two boys and some of their friends, and we LOVED IT. The next weekend we went again with family. Maybe it’s because I don’t remember that much about the original, but it felt fresh and funny to me. I love that my sons are seeing movies like this and loving them!
“I still don’t know why the movie didn’t do better.”
Because remakes suck and people are finally catching on to that reality.
I saw this with my sister and niece. My niece is 9 and loves Ghostbusters. She watched the original when she was 5 I think. She LOVES them. She was a Ghostbuster last year for Halloween.
I enjoyed the movie more than I thought I would. At one point I started tearing up and honestly had to fight back serious crying because my niece was so excited by this movie and I thought that it was so amazing that she gets to see a movie like this showing women rocking it together. There was no fighting about men and the main goal was never to get married or have a boyfriend.
It wasn’t a perfect movie. It wasn’t the best movie ever, but I will be buying it because I want my nieces to have more movies like this. I want them to have more women on screen kicking butt and being awesome. I want them to see more women on screen that do not fight over men. I want them to see more movies with female friends where the plot does not center around them falling in love and getting married or a boyfriend or in any way determining their value based on their relationships with men. I wish I had that as a kid and I’m so excited for them to have something like this.
Love this! I was halfway through the climax of the movie when I started tearing up… noticing that it was a bunch of women kicking a** in a not remotely sexualized way, and then realizing that’s pretty much the only way I’ve ever seen women in action movies portrayed before (with very, very few exceptions).
My daughter (16) is going to be Holtzmann for Halloween this year. Her little brother (12) is undecided, but he’s thinking about being Kevin to support her.
I just now realized what a remarkable situation this is.
YES! And after the movie, I realized that I had no clue what their love life situations were. Significant others? Doesn’t matter! WHAT? That ALWAYS matters! I was so happy to support this movie and I’m so happy my nieces have this in their lives.
My niece was watching something on Disney or Nick. Some tween show and something happened and the main character got all upset and whined, “I’ll never get a boyfriend now!” I made her change the channel. She was not happy with me but she was 7! No. Just no.
@Amy, that’s awesome!
<3
I really enjoyed the movie and ordered the Blu-ray. I wish I’d had done better, I would have enjoyed it as a franchise.
I would love another one too! One with less studio interference.
I think mostly people are getting tired of reboots even with amazing casting. Ghostbusters was a fun movie, a classic, !but it didn’t need a makeover.
I would have loved to see this cast in something fresh and original because they deserve to have a huge blockbuster being some of the funniest women alive.
I’ll rent it on demand to support.
I enjoyed the reboot. It is one of the few movies I will buy on bluray this year.
I loved the movie, I really don’t understand why it wasn’t a box office success. Maybe people were just too prejudiced against a reboot, and an all female one to boot.
The trailers were bad – I didn’t laugh once at any of them. Then I read that the writer said the negative criticism of the film started so early that they had time to write in responses to that criticism into the movie. That made some of the (not funny) jokes from the trailer make sense as to why they were there. So I didn’t go see the movie.
I wanted this film to rise above it all and do great, but I always knew it wouldn’t. They campaigned SO hard (I couldn’t turn on my tv without seeing some commercial or celeb endorsement for this movie) yet I didn’t know a single person (personally) who was interested. The trailers weren’t that funny, either. The cast is great and I hope there are more female-based movies that turn out to be hits, but this was just never destined to be one of them.
It really isn’t fair to compare the popularity of the two..we now have so many choices–between satellite or cable, netflix, hulu, Amazon prime, roku, there are actually thousands of things I can watch at any given time. In 84, a big release became a must-see…now, it’s a see now, or later at home especially for a recycled theme. I think if the remake had been all male, the result would’ve been pretty much the same.
Whatever, the problem is that people don’t want to see their favorite movies re-booted.
I liked this movie though, a lot. But I ain’t gunna buy the dvd.
Maybe it didn’t do well because the movie wasn’t very good, I’m tired of remakes, and I have plenty of material that is actually well done and original content on streaming.
The movie was perfect for young girls, and that’s what it was supposed to be. Not for dudes. For girls. I like Hudson in Frankie and Grace.
Tbh, I never liked how they brought in Ernie’s Winston in the original, so that recap about them deliberately establishing the character later makes it suck even more: they deliberately undermined the role because he was a PoC?
Also, I just didn’t like the casting on this one: if they’d cast the women of The Walking Dead and played it less directly for comedy, I would have watched the crap out of it.
But as a rule, I tend to avoid remakes unless I felt the original needed one: they’re such blatantly uninspired cash-ins, and it seems weird to remake a film when people consider the original either just fine or a classic.
Hollywood is just so lazy. It needs some heathy competition to force some change on it.
I loved this movie, and I loved the great and obvious relationships between the women. Not sure what Ernie is talking about, because those relationships are well defined from the get go. More than anything, I love that it is an action flick that promotes the scientific method and STEM for chicks. Salty parabolas, anyone? 😃
As for the original, I remember enjoying it so much–but tried to rewatch it recently and couldn’t get past wanting to smack Bill Murray’s sexist, annoying character everytime he opened his mouth. It was such a product of its time, and we’ve moved on. Bet Sigourney has!
I found the remake bad. There wasn’t particularly good chemistry between the characters, they all looked cartoonishly clearcut to me. The role of Leslie Jones was SUCH a cliche, simply put I found it outright rasist.
The effects were underwhelming too. My 5 -y-o said ohhh, yesss.. the older one said uh-uhm, yeah, ok. They didn’t get the jokes and I found them too many and too flat.
I think “the girls” knew they couldn’t save the film, that’s why the PR trip was so negative (and offensive to the long term fans) from a get go.
I won’t say the original was a milestone for me. But in comparison I found it coherent and more convincing that the last effort.