Following a series of mixed reviews and a very poor showing at the box office, it looks like Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot will be one and done – despite what the post-credits may have told you and what Sony had initially said.
The Hollywood Reporter posted today that Sony stand to lose $70 million on the movie, which has currently only made $180 million worldwide. With a production budget of $144 million and a rumoured marketing budget of $100 million, the studio needed $300 million to break even and $500 million in order to be deemed successful. It looks like the lack of Chinese screenings will have hurt its box office, and at present won’t make as much as the original did back in 1984 or its sequel in 1989.
“We’re very proud of the bold movie Paul Feig made, which critics and audiences loved,” a studio rep told them. “It has enlivened a 30-year-old brand and put it into the modern zeitgeist. As a result, we have many ideas in the works to further exploit the Ghostbusters universe.”
The report says that Sony will put Ghostbusters 2 on hold indefinitely, and instead turn their attention to the 2019 animated movie and the cartoon series Ghostbusters: Ecto Force, which will debut in 2018. What’s interesting here is that both of these projects are being headed up by original director Ivan Reitman, who was reportedly shut out from the reboot by former studio head Amy Pascal after she hired Feig.
SEE ALSO: Should Sony risk a Ghostbusters sequel?
THR also say that Feig and his stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristin Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon are unlikely to strap on the Proton Packs again. “Ghostbusters is on ice until further notice,” says box-office analyst Jeff Bock. “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.”
Sony reps do however say that merchandising – including a theme park ride in Dubai, a Madame Tussauds exhibit and a rise in VOD rentals of the 1984 original – will recoup all the deficit lost on the reboot.
Are you sad to see the Ghostbusters live-action universe crumble before its even begun?
Originally published August 10, 2016. Updated June 30, 2023.
