The Ghostbusters franchise rebounded in 2021 with the success of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which is still going strong at the box office. Of course, there’s been speculation of a potential sequel, with all signs pointing toward it becoming a reality. With the film’s tremendous success, Sony Pictures is capitalizing on it by releasing a box set of the beloved franchise. But there appeared to be one omission from the celebration – Paul Feig’s 2016 all-female Ghostbusters. After being notified about the faux pas, Feig spoke up about the film not being included in this collection.
It appeared Sony Pictures wanted to pretend as if the female-led take doesn’t exist. Of course, the film was poorly received by devoted Ghostbusters fans despite doing fairly well at the box office and earning numerous positive reviews. The glaring omission was pointed out by Slashflim, which caught the attention of Paul Feig. The Last Christmas director took to Twitter to voice his opinion about the box set omission.
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?
Calling out the studio for omitting the 2016 film was a bold move. Most directors would just be silent let something like a box set go, but not Paul Feig. He wants his contribution to the Ghostbusters legacy to be recognized. Of course, there are the film’s detractors, but the 2016 gender reversal film does have a sizable fanbase. So it seemed like either a blatant move or an oversight on Sony’s part.
As Paul Feig pointed out, Ghostbusters had the seal of approval from the OG Ghostbusters, as Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson made small cameos in the film. Aykroyd mentioned before that most Ghostbusters properties must go through him, so Feig’s female-led take has that in its back pocket. But there might be another reason why the 2016 film was left out
While the female-led film has the original actors' approval, it doesn't share the same timeline as the original films. So, this might be a case where continuity issues got it axed from the box set. There have always been talks of the cherished franchise having a potential multiverse. Maybe one day Paul Feig’s take will get just due especially with the franchise’s rebirth.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife proved to be a much-needed jolt for the long-dormant franchise. The film has remained in the top three since it was released in November. It appears the sequel’s run won’t end anytime soon. Maybe it’ll pique audiences’ interest to reexamine 2016's Ghostbusters again especially with its influence on the new film.
The 2016 all-female comedy is currently available for streaming on Hulu Live TV and Prime Video. Ghostbusters: Afterlife is currently in theaters.
