Ghostbusters was met last year with more positive reviews than negative ones, but its underwhelming commercial performance meant that it's unlikely we'll ever get a direct sequel. Over the last few days, original Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd has been blaming director Paul Feig on why the reimagining failed, with one of his complaints including that the movie's reshoots, which took place a few months before its release, cost $30-40 million. Now Sony Pictures is refuting that claim, saying that it actually only cost between $3-4 million for that extra filming.
While Sony didn't comment on Dan Aykroyd's other recent claims in its update to Deadline, the studio made sure to set set the record when it came to the how much money it dropped on the Ghostbusters reshoots. Granted, the movie still didn't make as much as Sony would have liked, but the reshoots can't be blamed for that. $30-40 million did sound excessive, so at least that particular matter has been settled. However, that isn't the only issue that Aykroyd had with the Ghostbusters reboot, as he's also accused Paul Feig of not shooting scenes suggested to him and not being "inclusive" enough to the originators. On a brighter note, Aykroyd has been complimenting Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones for their performances. For those who've forgotten, Aykroyd cameoed in the new Ghostbusters movie (as a taxi driver), as did his other costars from the original Ghostbusters series: Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts.
Excluding marketing and advertising costs, Ghostbusters was made off a $144 million budget, which is ridiculously high for a property like this, which hadn't released a movie since 1989. Although the reboot went on to make nearly $230 million worldwide, that wasn't enough for it to be considered a commercial success. That being said, Ghostbusters wasn't an anomaly by choosing to conduct reshoots, as it's become more common in recent years for studios to set aside resources for blockbusters to film extra material during the post-production process. Alas, even obtaining that extra material wasn't enough for Ghostbusters to financially succeed, something which Dan Aykroyd is still irritated about a year later.
Even though a direct Ghostbusters sequel no longer appears to be in the cards, Sony isn't abandoning the paranormal franchise. The plan now is to release an animated movie in the near future and a different live action movie at some point. There is also an animated TV series in the works called Ghostbusters: Ecto Force, which is set in the year 2050. The new Ghostbusters team is also currently appearing in the IDW comic book series Ghostbusters 101, where the new Ghostbusters team meets the old school Ghostbusters team thanks to parallel universe craziness.
Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more news on all things Ghostbusters as they come in.
