To this day, the Ghostbusters series remains a beloved piece of pop culture, though not every aspect of it receives major love from fans. What may be the most polarizing entry in the IP is the 2016 reboot, which featured an all-female cast. The film, which was directed by Paul Feig, was ultimately a box office bomb, and plans for a sequel were swiftly abandoned. Now, years later, franchise OG Dan Aykroyd is defending the women-led reboot but simultaneously talks about what bones he initially had to pick with the panned comedy film.
There were a lot of reasons why the all-female Ghostbusters seemed like a good idea at the time. With Paul Feig having had great luck with female-led fare like Bridesmaids and The Heat, it seemed like he could masterfully inject some girl power into a supernatural romp. While the film did receive solid reviews, there was early sexist hate from some general viewers even before the film came out. Some even called the movie a “gimmick.” Before truly diving into why he appreciates the movie now, Dan Aykroyd told People that there was a behind-the-scenes issue stemming from his role as a producer:
I liked the movie [director] Paul Feig made with those spectacular women. I was mad at them at the time because I was supposed to be a producer on there and I didn't do my job and I didn't argue about costs. And it cost perhaps more than it should, and they all do. All these movies do.
It’s true that the female Ghostbusters movie had a giant budget of $144 million. Because of the high cost of marketing, the reboot needed to make at least $300 million to break even. Unfortunately, it only grossed $229.1 million. Dan Aykroyd continued to talk more about the reboot’s budget being the reason it failed. He claimed Paul Feig spent too much money and didn’t shoot certain scenes that were suggested by him. After test screenings, Feig had to go back and film more material, leading to reshoots totaling $30-$40 million. Considering that the budgets of Afterlife and Frozen Empire -- which would be released later and made canon to the OG series -- were in the ballpark of $77-$100 million, it looks like the producers learned their lessons.
Despite all of the internet hate and box office failure the 2016 remake of Ghostbusters turned out to be, Dan Aykroyd still has positive sentiments to share about the movie. He even heaped some particular praise on the cast:
But boy, I liked that film. I thought that the villain at the end was great. I loved so much of it. And of course, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones and Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig, you're never going to do better than that. So I go on the record as saying I'm so proud to have been able to license that movie and have a hand and have a part in it, and I'm fully supportive of it, and I don't besmirch it at all. I think it works really great amongst all the ones that have been made.
Unfortunately, bad word of mouth about can impact a film's performance. When Dan Aykroyd saw the movie for himself before it came out, he said he loved the cast so much and thought it had more comedy than Ivan Reitman's original two movies. Critics who saw the Ghostbusters remake also felt like the cast brought their A-game with their comedic skills. And, in more recent years, some have come around to the flick and made note of its merits.
It's great to see that Dan Aykroyd is such a champion of the film, despite acknowledging his BTS gripes. I'm curious to see how the film continues to age as time goes on. As the years pass, it's possible that it could even develop a legitimate cult following. The movie is currently available for AMC+ subscribers to stream, so check it out. As for Aykroyd, check out his latest turn as Dr. Ray Stantz by streaming Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire with a Netflix subscription.
