Director Paul Feig addresses backlash over Ghostbusters trailer

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

The GHOSTBUSTERS reboot may be the most anticipated comedy of the summer, but its first trailer is the most disliked movie trailer in YouTube history, and co-writer and director Paul Feig addressed the overwhelmingly negative reactions to the trailer during an interview with Famous Monsters Of Filmland.

We have over 60 million hits, so let’s put it in context a little bit. … All I can ask is, people, either give us a chance, or you don’t have to see it. I’m really proud of it.

Feig went on to praise cast members Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, telling the magazine, "I’m so proud of my cast. I think the cast is so good, and they can stand in the footsteps of who came before, because they’re such funny people but they’re different. That’s all you really want out of a comedy at the end of the day, is something different and new, and to just see great people do it.”

A couple of days ago we saw the release of a second trailer, which was an improvement over the first, however it really didn't do much to quell fans' concerns about the reboot. Feig admitted that the trailers for his movies usually aren't great, before adding “everyone has a million different ideas of what this movie is going to be.”

I think a lot of people thought we were going to take the original script and just flip it, so that Melissa’s going to be Venkman, and Kate’s going to be Ray Stantz! And you’re like, ‘well, no, we would never do that.’ Nobody knows what you’re doing, so it could be anything. For us, we just needed to plant a flag and go, ‘here’s kind of how some of the stuff in the movie is!

Feig is definitely right about the trailer for his films. SPY, for example, looked absolutely awful based on the trailers, however it ended up being a very solid comedy. I'll give your movie an unbiased chance, Mr. Feig, but I have a feeling that I'm in the minority here.

GHOSTBUSTERS opens on July 15, 2016.