All-Female Ghostbusters Reboot Officially Happening

[Signa]

Oh HELL no!

Granted, casting could change that reaction for me, but the first image in my mind when I hear "all female ghostbusters" is basically Charlie's Angels with proton packs. I have such low expectations for Hollywood that I wonder if I'm calling it right now.

 

[Therumancer]

Yes. Awesome!

IMO, Scarlett Johansson needs to be in this. She nailed every comedy role she was in.

NO. A MILLION TIMES NO.

"Hilarious women" will apparently translate to "sexy, attractive women", isn't it? Look at the original Ghostbusters. But of course, women can't be funny, they need to be, first and foremost, sexy.

This is probably gonna be so painful to watch. Knowing hollywood they'll cast pretty ladies instead of funny ladies...and it'll be horrible.

My sentiments exactly.

As much as I absolutely hate reboots, if they actually made this into a comedy with actual funny women, it would be extremely groundbreaking. It would show women can do more than look pretty on the screen. It would be incredible.
But, lolno - they gonna cast pretty ladies and try to give them a "funny" script... of course, provided they manage to always look desirable at every moment and during every joke.

Actually the trick to doing this well is less about appearance than chemistry. The truth is there are plenty of attractive women who are decent as comidiennes as well as unattractive or average looking one. That said being "funny" is not generally speaking the same as being funny in a movie, stand up/club comedy is a very different animal than pulling it off in a movie and quite a few stand ups have failed to make the transition. "Ghostbusters" worked because it had some very talented people who were decent at both, including SNL alumni, and a lot of the movie worked because the actors played well off of each other and their natural-seeming chemistry sold a lot of it where the FX and jokes couldn't.

Scarlet Johansson would actually be a decent choice, because as was pointed out, she's nailed comedy before, and is a decent actress, as well as either being good with action or at least knowing a good stunt double she works with regularly (probably a combination). Overall though I'd be looking at the current comedy troupes that have had shows and frequent appearances over the last few years and the ladies they have there. People with that kind of experience doing skits on television seem to do the best in terms of moving into big time comedy roles.

It also occurs to me that after the whole "Buffy" craze we have a goodly number of ladies out there who are now older and have had careers where they became well known playing supernaturally-themed characters. This could make for some potential "meta" humor. For example today Sarah Michelle Geller could more convincingly pass as someone who has a doctorate and a few years under her belt hunting down monsters, Allison Hannigan is similar and comes with some rather successful comedy chops from "How I Met Your Mother". Still, I'd be looking towards comedy central regulars, SNL, and equivalents for our Busterettes.

My bigger concern is that they are going to simply create female analogies to the original team and their chemistry (a pair of eggheads, a "cool dude", and a black dude out for money). Or even worse waste the potential like we say with the last "Ghostbusters" video game in simply trying to create the big moments from the movies as opposed to doing much that's new with the idea.

 

[kael013]

I'm not too concerned about the all-female team, though it does seem a bit unrealistic in this day and age. I'm more concerned about the reboot part. Why a reboot? Wouldn't a legacy team make more sense?

 

[Winthrop]

As long as they keep Melissa McCarthy the fuck out.

And how far did you have to walk to get to the left field that little tid-bit came out of? If your only reasoning for her not being included is her weight, shame on you sir, because she is a damn funny lady.

Ugh, people and their presumptions. I don't like McCarthy's current brand of low-brow cussy humour. She spiraled downwards from acting as human beings in Mike & Molly and Gilmore Girls to a being caricatures in The Heat and Tammy. All her humor these days seem to be derived from her body or her hygiene or her foul mouth. I'd rather we have Poehler and Fey, who can be comedic without being crass.

After reading your post, I'm pretty sure you are me.

OT: Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Sarah Silverman for sure for me. The final person is a toss up for me. Mindy Kaling maybe? Tina Fey and Silverman need to be in it though, they'd be perfect for it I think, especially if they get any influence over the script. I really do hope its not McCarthy. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a single movie with her in it. Also, since apparently if I don't explicitly state this the opposite will be assumed, I have no issue with her weight. I think she overacts and overdoes all of her jokes and the sense of humor in her movies is a style I hate. I feel the same way about David Spade. In fact, the fact that this has the same director as The Heat has me worried due to the issues just listed. I like Ghostbusters as much as the next guy, and with the right cast and script this has potential, but I'm afraid it will be a lowbrow reboot with pointless shoutouts and quotes from the original.

 

[the December King]

I'm cool with the idea of a Ghostbusters that will star women, I even think the idea of an all women team can work- I like the idea of Dana Barret somehow being involved, and the team starting up in another city.

But will it actually be an all-women main cast? And is it going to be a reboot, or a spin off?

My captcha was 'there is only Zul'.

Awesome.

 

[unacomn]

Yay to sequel, boo to reboot.

Reboot usually means they think they can outdo the original. They can't. Build upon it, don't Robocop it!

 

[WonkyWarmaiden]

Yep, let's pick Scarlett Johansson for the comedy role of the everyday person. She's perfect for that. Let's show all ladies in the world THIS is how an everyday woman is like.

Besides, Scarlett is such a talented, amazing actress, amIrite.

Damn, dude. Did Scarlett Johanson steal your lunch money when you were a kid? What's your problem with her other than your opinion that she's a terrible actress.

 

[prowll]

As long as they keep Melissa McCarthy the fuck out.

And how far did you have to walk to get to the left field that little tid-bit came out of? If your only reasoning for her not being included is her weight, shame on you sir, because she is a damn funny lady.

Well, in a physical comedy, it'd be a detriment. And no, sadly, she's not. She's friends with funny people, keeping her career going.

 

[prowll]

As long as they keep Melissa McCarthy the fuck out.

And how far did you have to walk to get to the left field that little tid-bit came out of? If your only reasoning for her not being included is her weight, shame on you sir, because she is a damn funny lady.

Ugh, people and their presumptions. I don't like McCarthy's current brand of low-brow cussy humour. She spiraled downwards from acting as human beings in Mike & Molly and Gilmore Girls to a being caricatures in The Heat and Tammy. All her humor these days seem to be derived from her body or her hygiene or her foul mouth. I'd rather we have Poehler and Fey, who can be comedic without being crass.

After reading your post, I'm pretty sure you are me.

OT: Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Sarah Silverman for sure for me. The final person is a toss up for me. Mindy Kaling maybe? Tina Fey and Silverman need to be in it though, they'd be perfect for it I think, especially if they get any influence over the script. I really do hope its not McCarthy. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a single movie with her in it. Also, since apparently if I don't explicitly state this the opposite will be assumed, I have no issue with her weight. I think she overacts and overdoes all of her jokes and the sense of humor in her movies is a style I hate. I feel the same way about David Spade. In fact, the fact that this has the same director as The Heat has me worried due to the issues just listed. I like Ghostbusters as much as the next guy, and with the right cast and script this has potential, but I'm afraid it will be a lowbrow reboot with pointless shoutouts and quotes from the original.

This, thank you for being far more eloquent than I am this morning. (Silverman as Venkman?)
One thing that I hope that they do is treat this more as a spinoff than an reboot. Let the girls buy the franchise, re-open it, and go from there. If you try to shoehorn anyone in to a VERY specific role, you probably will not have a good result. If you let them riff on a theme, it may be a hoot.

Capcha: Good grief.
Yep, cause one way or another, this is a LONG shot.

EDIT: I mentioned the post to my wife: Her immediate reaction was "Felicia Day is playing Egon, right?"

 

[WonkyWarmaiden]

Yep, let's pick Scarlett Johansson for the comedy role of the everyday person. She's perfect for that. Let's show all ladies in the world THIS is how an everyday woman is like.

Besides, Scarlett is such a talented, amazing actress, amIrite.

Damn, dude. Did Scarlett Johanson steal your lunch money when you were a kid? What's your problem with her other than your opinion that she's a terrible actress.

I instinctively loathe her. It's visceral. She reminds me so much of those vain prom girls with blonde hair that talk like, ohmygosh, really, you know?

You see, the only superheroine us ladies got for the big screen is Black Widow. And she's a dolled up sex fantasy who doesn't even have good acting going for her.

It really, really doesn't send a positive message.

But Black Widow has always had the sexy spy thing going on, it's part of her character. The only time in the movies I can think of where she could be considered a 'sex fantasy' is in Iron Man 2 but there she's playing a role to stay close to Tony Stark.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

i hate Social Justice, now i dont know if, when an artist wants to do some gender swapping, it is because he/she wants to experiment with something different or is because of pandering

i guess ill wait and see

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Kat Dennings, my god, Kat Dennings. Karen Gillian, Aisha Tyler...

Yeah, this could work. Wish I was better with names though.

 

[GreenSkin99]

In the wise words of Peter K. Rosenthal.

Is that the best you got Hollywood?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9d09JLBVRc

 

[WonkyWarmaiden]

Yep, let's pick Scarlett Johansson for the comedy role of the everyday person. She's perfect for that. Let's show all ladies in the world THIS is how an everyday woman is like.

Besides, Scarlett is such a talented, amazing actress, amIrite.

Damn, dude. Did Scarlett Johanson steal your lunch money when you were a kid? What's your problem with her other than your opinion that she's a terrible actress.

I instinctively loathe her. It's visceral. She reminds me so much of those vain prom girls with blonde hair that talk like, ohmygosh, really, you know?

You see, the only superheroine us ladies got for the big screen is Black Widow. And she's a dolled up sex fantasy who doesn't even have good acting going for her.

It really, really doesn't send a positive message.

But Black Widow has always had the sexy spy thing going on, it's part of her character. The only time in the movies I can think of where she could be considered a 'sex fantasy' is in Iron Man 2 but there she's playing a role to stay close to Tony Stark.

A few things.

1) Ultimate Spider-Man introduced Black Widow as sexy AND badass. Doesn't solve the problem but it was a bit of an improvement. The movies do not even try to do that. At all.

2) She is literally the only mainstream Marvel heroine. Heck, she is literally the only mainstream heroine, stop. And the only mainstream heroine we got is a man's sex fantasy. Please do not say she is empowered, because what she does in the movies is literally "hey here's my token action scene. See? Now I demonstrated I totally kick ass. Ok, with that out of the way, please return to admire my tits&ass while the male heroes do everything". Even when she is supposed to be kicking ass, her main concern is not kicking ass but looking sexy while doing so.

3) "Being sexy has always been her thing". Fine, then do not make her the ONLY female protagonist we got. Is it really fair that the only heroine we got is someone whose main thing is being sexy? Do you know kids watch superhero movies? Do you know how many little girls watched Avengers and all that, and learnt that male heroes kick ass, while female heroines can kick ass sometimes as long as they wave their butt and flirt with half the male cast? Do you know those little girls do NOT have another heroine to identify with?

4) A heroine like Black Widow is NOT made for females. She is 100% made for the male audience. Some women will surely try to like her by trying to focus more on her strenght than her sluttiness. But as a general rule, the human brain works like this whenever you are presented with an overly sexy heroine: MALE BRAIN: "she is attractive and showing it - she is sexually available - HAWT!"; FEMALE BRAIN: "she is attractive and showing it - she is sexually available - RIVAL!".
Which is why any female character that is really focused on her sexuality is made for males. Psychologically, when women see a hot chick on screen they do NOT identify with her. Their biology often make them think of her as a competition. Hence, Black Widow is made for the male audience. But male heroes are made for the male audience too. What do we ladies get? Merely a bit of sexy Loki.

5) Scarlett Johansson is a vain slut IRL. I saw an interview with her and I was appalled to see it. I was kinda hoping she was a smart girl playing the sexy doll on screen because it's good money.

We'll just have to agree to disagree about Black Widow in the movies. Just because she's sexy doesn't mean she's slutty, she uses her looks for her job so of course she needs to look good. And it's the movies, everyone's pretty in The Avengers. I do agree it sucks that she's the only female superhero we've been given so far but hopefully Scarlet Witch will fix that in The Avengers 2. Also, come on, don't call Scarlett Johanson names, that's just immature.

 

[Something Amyss]

Oh no, a "Niche" movie for the whiny vocal minority called "women" that I probably won't ever watch or hear about again!

WHY MUST YOU RUIN MY FILMS LIKE THIS, FEMINISM?!?!

You just don't get it, man. Because the cast are women, they will talk about girl things! And they will force you to go!

 

[Something Amyss]

i hate Social Justice, now i dont know if, when an artist wants to do some gender swapping, it is because he/she wants to experiment with something different or is because of pandering

i guess ill wait and see

I don't think you know what "social justice" is. I know that the internet froths in a rage at the "social justice warrior," but are you seriously pro-slavery and miscegnation and shit?

Anyway, yeah. I hate pandering. Only straight white dudes should be pandered to.

 

[Poetic Nova]

Extremely curious how this will turn out. Hopefully good.