In fact, Paul Feig has said that he's never touching another remake again after Ghostbusters.
After all, could you blame him? The sheer force of hatred that was out there for the Ghostbusters remake was on a scale heretofore unheard of for a film. For Sony, however, it all comes down to the figures and the figure don't look good.
As we reported a couple of weeks ago, Ghostbusters wasn't exactly spinning a huge amount of money in the box-office and it now appears that the film is facing into a significant loss.
According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, Ghostbusters took in $117 million worldwide a month after its release on July 15th. With a production budget of $144 million and an untold amount in marketing, it's looking like Ghostbusters was, sadly, a box-office bomb.Previously, Sony reps explained that a gross of $300 million was needed for it to break even, however that target now seems unlikely. Indeed, according to box-office analyst Jeff Bock speaking to THR, any chance of a sequel is even more unlikely.
"I just can't fathom the creative talents behind it - Feig, McCarthy, Wiig, etc. - slogging out another one when the reception to the first one was so mediocre," explained Bock. On Metacritic, Ghostbusters had a 60% score whilst Rotten Tomatoes scored it at 73% and certified it as Fresh. For us, we gave it three stars.
Sony, however, remain bullish about Ghostbusters and, in a statement sent to THR, slammed the reported $70 million losses. "With multiple revenue streams, including consumer products, gaming, location-based entertainment, continued international rollout, and huge third-party promotional partnerships that mitigated costs, the bottom line, even before co-financing, is not remotely close to that number," said a Sony rep.
Like it or not, the figures aren't promising as it stands and with the collapse in the home market, it's not like they can recoup losses from the sales of Blu-Ray or DVD either. The other option? Animated sequels. Yes, really. Sony have said that they're actively pursuing an animated sequel to Ghostbusters and have planned an animated series for television known as Ghostbusters: Ecto Force, with Ivan Reitman guiding both projects as executive producer.
Ghostbusters does seem to have fallen into the curse of Summer 2016, as it's been a lacklustre year for all studios - not just Sony. Next week will tell if Suicide Squad survives in the box-office or if it will suffer the same losses as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
