'Ghostbusters' Reboot Director Paul Feig Shares His Regrets

Remember when the Ghostbusters remake hit theaters in 2016, and everyone acted calm and rational about it? Just kidding – the internet was furious, particularly fanboys who were outraged that someone would dare reboot Ghostbusters with ladies. Now, a year later, Ghostbusters reboot director Paul Feig is opening up about the box office disappointment of the film, which was originally supposed to launch a whole new franchise.

The 2016 Ghostbusters remake earned mostly positive reviews (it's currently Fresh with a 74% rating on Rotten Tomatoes), but it was not the big blockbuster Sony Pictures had been hoping for. In the end, Ghostbusters only took in $128,350,574 domestically (per Box Office Mojo) on a $144 million production budget. One thing that certainly didn't help with the matter was the highly negative reaction to the film online, with original Ghostbusters fans incensed that Sony would both remake the 1984 film and also dare to re-cast the Ghostbusters as women. It was an unfortunate, toxic side effect that dogged the film before it even hit theaters.

In a new interview with Vulture, Ghostbusters remake director Paul Feig opened up about his regrets about the film's reception:

"It was a great regret in my life that the movie didn't do better, 'cause I really loved it...It's not a perfect movie. None of my movies are perfect. I liked what we were doing with it. It was only supposed to be there to entertain people."

Feig also commented on how the politics surrounding the film likely killed a lot of the enthusiasm it for casual moviegoers as well, saying, "I think it kind of hampered us a little bit because the movie became so much of a cause. I think for some of our audience, they were like, 'What the f***? We don't wanna go to a cause. We just wanna watch a f***in' movie."

It really is unfortunate that Feig's Ghostbusters received such heavy backlash. While the 2016 film may not be as great as the original, it's a really fun movie, and the cast – Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones – all brought something splendid to the remake, particularly McKinnon, who nearly stole the entire film with her weird, quirky character Holtzmann. Alas, some people just weren't having it. Even vodka salesman and original Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd was unhappy with how things turned out, laying most of the blame on Feig by saying, "[Feig] spent too much on it. He didn't shoot scenes we suggested to him and several scenes that were going to be needed and he said 'nah, we don't need them'. Then we tested the movie and they needed them and he had to go back."

Sony had of course hoped to turn the new Ghostbusters into a franchise, but after the film's underperformance at the box office, it seems highly unlikely. Even if a Ghostbusters sequel had gotten the go-ahead, it's likely it would've been met with the same internet hostility that plagued the first. My advice: give Feig's Ghostbusters another watch, and try to forget all about the hostile reception it received. You might find yourself enjoying it.