Paul Feig Reflects on the Negative Reception of His GHOSTBUSTERS Reboot - "So Many Were Trump Supporters"

Director Paul Feige recently reflected on his 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters and the negative reception it was met with.

When the film was first announced and fans learned that it wasn’t going to be set in the same universe as the original films and that none of the iconic members of the original team were going to return, there was, unsurprisingly, a lot of backlash.

As a massive fan of the original movies, I was definitely not happy with that direction. But then, there was also the fact that the new team would consist of only women, and that threw a whole group of other fans into a fit of rage.

For me, just the idea of rebooting the franchise with a whole new group of characters didn’t sit well. I mean, you can’t reboot a classic movie like Ghostbusters! That’s what got my blood boiling.

After watching the movie, I thought it featured a weak story, tired gags, pointless cameos, and a bad ending. But, at the same time, my kids enjoyed it at the time.

While speaking to The Guardian, Feig reflected on the movie's release. When asked about why he decided to make a movie without the original characters, he said:

"Bill [Murray] had publicly said he didn’t want to do another Ghostbusters at that point. Harold Ramis had died. Dan [Aykroyd] and Ernie [Hudson] were there, but half the team felt weird. It had been 30 years and Bill and the gang were so iconic; I didn’t want to do anything that hurt the original movies."

He went on to talk about the politics of that time, saying: "The political climate of the time was really weird, with Hillary Clinton running for office in 2016. There were a lot of dudes looking for a fight.

“When I was getting piled on, on Twitter, I’d go back and see who they were. So many were Trump supporters. Then Trump came out against us. He was like: 'They’re remaking Indiana Jones without Harrison Ford. You can’t do that. And now they’re making Ghostbusters with only women. What’s going on?' and got all upset.

“Everybody went [frick]ing cannibal. It turned the movie into a political statement, as if to say: ‘If you’re pro-women, you’re going to go see this. If you’re not, then …’ I didn’t think it mattered at all that the main characters were women, but people brought a lot of baggage."

Whether you happen to agree with Feig's perspective or not, it's hard to argue that the movie didn’t have the odds stacked against it from the very beginning.

That all being said, the latest Ghostbusters movie, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, which is connected to the original universe, ended up being a big disappointment as well. A weak story is a weak story.