Posted in: Ghostbusters, Movies, Sony | Tagged: ghostbusters, ghostbusters 2016, Ghostbusters Ultimate Gift Set, ghostbusters: afterlife, ghostbusters: answer the call, Kate McKinnon, kristen wiig, Leslie Jones, melissa mccarthy, paul feig, sony

Ghostbusters: Paul Feig Calls Out Sony on 2016 Film Snub from Box Set

Published Thu, 23 Dec 2021 07:17:13 -0600

by Tom Chang

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With the release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Sony announced the release date for their Ghostbusters Ultimate Gift Set that includes the 1984 original, its 1989 sequel Ghostbusters II and the aforementioned Jason Reitman film for a Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD release slated for February 1, 2022. It's a comprehensive 8-disc set that also comes with the book Making Ghostbusters. Of course, the big giant glaring omission to the set is the Paul Feig 2016 film since rebranded Ghostbusters: Answer the Call to differentiate from the Ivan Reitman film. It was a reboot that starred Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, and Chris Hemsworth.

Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Kristen Wiig in Ghostbusters (2016). Image courtesy of Sony

How Both Recent Ghostbusters Films Were Endorsed by Original Cast

Feig took to Twitter to (rightfully) lodge his protest to Sony for the exclusion adding the hashtag #WeAreAllGhostbusters. While the 2016 film garnered a 74 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the online backlash, largely fueled by misogyny, was in full force that likely sabotaged any real chance of box office success. Like Jason Reitman's film, the project was endorsed by the franchise's surviving cast in Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts, playing original roles.

Um … @SonyPictures, I know this must be a mistake. We do have a lot of fans and Bill, Dan and Ernie were in it and it won the Kids Choice Award for Best Feature Film the year it came out. So, I guess this was just an oversight? #weareallghostbusters 👻❤️ https://t.co/dI8TwJsG4I

— Paul Feig (@paulfeig) December 22, 2021

While the 2016 reboot didn't take place in the same universe, Afterlife acted as canonically, the third film that focused on Egon Spengler's family in the Midwest that saw the character passing at the beginning of the film to coincide with Harold Ramis' passing. The character was largely muted, played by a stand-in initially in silhouette, and was rendered in CG near the film's climax. As far as the 2016 film's mixed reception, Aykroyd said he wished Feig "had been more inclusive to the originators" but did enjoy it otherwise. Since Afterlife's release on November 19, the film hasn't topped $200 million as its predecessors have yet, currently at $174 million globally at the box office. The film, which also stars Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, McKenna Grace, and Finn Wolfhard, is in theaters.

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