Ghostbusters (2016)

What happened is that Sony Pictures Co-Chairman Amy Pascal was criticized for paying women actors less and then went on to defend paying them less -

"I run a business. People want to work for less money, I'll pay them less money. I don't call them up and go, can I give you some more?" she said at a Women in the World event. She laid the blame on the women themselves for not refusing to work for less pay. "They have to walk away. People shouldn't be so grateful for jobs."

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Then to prove her feminist chops she greenlit an all female ghostbusters film and everyone involved went on to call people critical of the picture misogynists.

ToeMissile_sl said:

It didn't come across like that in the movie. "Girl Power!" sure, it was a comedy with women in the leading roles that was written with women viewers in mind more than men. *shrug* Again, I haven't seen any promotional material beside a few billboards and pizza commercials, but it seems to me that the public turned this into a SJW shitstorm.

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This is probably how the vast majority of people are. This board is a microcosm of angry old nerds and sometimes they fail to see that while simultaneously bragging about it in other threads. It's great.

Ridas_sl said:

"Part of what makes ?Ghostbusters? enjoyable is that it allows women to be as simply and uncomplicatedly funny as men, (...)" New York Times

Good job being as funny as Adam Sandler (Pixels) and Kevin James (Mall Cop). Those were the two first movies coming to mind, when I saw the trailer. Looking forward to the RedLetterMedia review.

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Easy, called it.

She makes very good points

It's in CBG's video above, but I think its worth watching on its own.


People posting its silly or conspiracy level to say people are biasing their reviews or giving a movie ratings based on SJWness, well, see the pressure on someone like Roeper who was honest about it and reviewed it on its own merit.

I gotta ask, but how did that black chick even become famous? She's really ugly and actually kind of scary looking. Did she just threaten people to put her on SNL?

Cantatus_sl said:

I'm guessing Sony was always willing to take a little bit of a loss on this movie. While $500 million obviously isn't unheard of for a movie, it is a particularly difficult climb for a non-family comedy. Over the past decade, the highest grossing PG-13 or R comedy I could find wasTedin 2012 with around $550 million globally - and that's the only one I could find that made over $500 million. The highest grossing comedies in other years (eg 22 Jump Street, The Heat) typically come in more between $200 and $300 million.

However, Ghostbusters wasn't just about selling a movie, but creating a new franchise. That's why they've invested more heavily in advertising than any other comedy I've seen in recent years. They started talking about a Ghostbusters cinematic universe after this one was barely even off the ground. If they had to take a loss on this movie but it allows them to create something they can milk on a yearly basis, it isn't a bad trade-off. The question, though, is how much of a loss they're willing to take before they go back to the drawing board. But, now that they wrested control from Ivan Reitman, another Ghostbusters movie is inevitable given how desperate Sony is to create a cinematic universe. It just remains to be seen if it'll be these Ghostbusters again (I'd be really curious to know how many movies the actresses had to commit to).

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The fact so many people are desperately trying to defend this movie with "because it's a comedy" proves the reboot is a failure. The movie and franchise is and could have been so much more, but instead of trying to make a great movie that resonates across all/most audiences, they set the bar so low for themselves and just let Paul Feig make his version of a low-brow girl-comedy. The only thing left to do is defend the low bar they set for themselves and defend the corner they back themselves into.

Think about it. Ghostbusters, one of the most iconic films because it raised the bar above having a few comedians in it and became a cultural phenomenon because it was smarter than being just some low-brow comedy of the time, and had the sort of characters and action that spawned some of the best merchandising... is now being defended with citations to Ted, 22 Jump Street, and The Heat.

Is that really how we thought the Ghostbusters reboot would look? The best live-action opening day comedy since Pitch Perfect 2 and speculation they were trying to emulate the success of a bunch of comedies that have no merchandising.

I was thinking more like Deadpool or Guardians or any number of other big-budget blockbusters with action and humor and good characters and relatable drama and with a ton of merch sales because of it. Not fucking Pitch Perfect 2 with the hopes it could have been as successful as The Heat.

Noodleface_sl said:

I gotta ask, but how did that black chick even become famous? She's really ugly and actually kind of scary looking. Did she just threaten people to put her on SNL?

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I don't watch SNL outside of a clip here or there, but she is pretty funny in what I've seen her in. She was on Match Game last week and got a few solid laughs out of me. The Naked and Afraid spoof with her and Peter Dinklage was good too.

Noodleface_sl said:

I gotta ask, but how did that black chick even become famous? She's really ugly and actually kind of scary looking. Did she just threaten people to put her on SNL?

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By yelling "AW HELL NAH" and being such a beast she can just imply she wants to fuck men and everyone is so disgusted it becomes instantly funny. Seriously, on SNL sketches, in interviews, her basic routine is: Aw HELL NAH, I's black woman, you wants to get in this?!

And yes, there's a huge double standard because Tracy Morgan had little more to offer, but he was actually far more subtle and endearing in his "I'll get you all pregnant" bit. Maybe it's just sexism, but where Morgan was understated and had his own style and delivery, the chick from SNL is just loud and playing directly into the black beast stereotype.

Tracy Morgan still has one of my favorite delivery styles. He's very quiet, calm and smooth, and then he yells the punchline.

"Ladies, if you haven't lost weight by June 21st... YOU'RE GONNA BE FAT ALL SUMMAH!"

Tanoomba_sl said:

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Those hack frauds!


Mike gets VERY drunk on crystal skull vodka

Sylas_sl said:

heh so the 144 production cost isfucking net, not total cost. that's after tax breaks and rebates.

You remember that shitty CGI craptacular Gods of Egypt? That cost 150 mil to make, but they had 140mil in foreign presales, tax breaks and rebates, so thanks to hollywood voodoo accounting only cost 10mil dollars to make so they made money even though it bombed?

So yeah this movie cost 144 mil after all that shit, (edit) it actually cost 154 mil in real dollars, and sony only pulls in about 55% of domestic box office receipts on films like this so yeah, this movie needs to break 300-350mil domestic to break even.

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I wish I remember where I saw it, but there was an article or video that went into pretty good detail about how Hollywood accounting works -- and it's insane. It shouldn't really be called accounting. The gist of it was that nothing costs even remotely what it says it does.

There's almost no way this movie ends up as break even, but the net negative revenue will be pushed onto another project in the future (not necessarily even a related movie).

popsicledeath_sl said:

And yes, there's a huge double standard because Tracy Morgan had little more to offer, but he was actually far more subtle and endearing in his "I'll get you all pregnant" bit. Maybe it's just sexism, but where Morgan was understated and had his own style and delivery, the chick from SNL is just loud and playing directly into the black beast stereotype.

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I had stopped watching SNL by the time Morgan was on, but his shit on 30 Rock was hilarious.

Tanoomba_sl said:

Surprisingly, the RLM crew acknowledged her as the saving grace of the movie. Despite how the trailers made her look like a walking stereotype, she was apparently the most grounded and relatable character. They even suggested the editor of the trailers might of had a beef against Sony.

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Who doesnt have a beef against sony? My dad worked at sony records for 15 years and he had quite a lot to say about them

Tanoomba_sl said:

They even suggested the editor of the trailers might of had a beef against Sony.

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Said as a joke.

lol she reported Milo Yiannopoulos, twitter must have a person tasked just to handle his reports