Why Ghostbusters 2016 Flopped

Ghostbusters 2016 was a flop. Here's why.

I wanted to talk about the Ghostbusters reboot when it came out, but everyone was talking about it and there was some much vitriol I kind of thought I’d save it. The reboot, which I’ll refer to here as Ghostbusters 2016, is a failure, and I’m talking in terms of box office. It took about a hundred and forty four million dollars to make, it made as of the end of November 2016, according to Box Office Mojo, just over two hundred and twenty nine million, but with marketing and everything like that Sony needed it to bring in three hundred million to break even, and about half a billion to be considered a success.

So according to those figures, the movie lost about 70 million dollars. That’s a McDonald’s cheeseburger for every single resident of Thailand. Now Sony’s spokespeople whenever they’re asked about this, seem to say something like, it’s nowhere near that much, with the merchandise, the boost to the series as a whole, it’s more like fifty million or twenty five million. Well twenty five million may be true, but that’s because Village Roadshow has to take a big bite of that shit sandwich too, having helped to finance the film.

I’m going to give you my reasons why I think the movie bombed, but first let me tell you where I’m coming from. I try not to review movies on this channel, I’m more interested in talking about why things in films work or don’t work, or my opinions on directorial decisions, or looking at the business or the backstories behind movies. I dislike enough cherished movies, and like enough disliked ones to know me just saying it was crap, doesn’t really mean that much. But what I would say is I like the original Ghostbusters a lot, I like the laid back but still pacey style, I like its humour, I think its witty and well made, but I’m not a super fan. It’s not my favourite movie. Ghostbusters 2016, I don’t hate. I don’t think it’s the worst film ever. I think it’s quite saggy, but it’s not terrible. When I heard about it and watched the trailer, I didn’t have a gut wrenching reaction to it. I simply rolled my eyes, as I do with every reboot or dignity-defying sequel....

Any of you guys think there'll be a sequel? I heard they're going to 'branch out' into animations, which I think really means roll back investment.


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