Andrew Bullock: The Box

GHOSTBUSTERS

I have massive concerns that the 2016-scheduled Ghostbusters reboot will be terrible. Why so worried? Because the TV show was my LIFE when I was about 5-11 (and 12-32).
For starters, Paul Feig is at the helm. He is known for comedies – notably Bridesmaids. While Bridesmaids is awesome, it’s pure comedy. Ghostbusters is not. It was comedic, but not a comedy. But the concept and casting of Feig’s new film just reeks of slapstick. Now, I am NOT sexist, so don’t go there; but the women thing is a recipe for disappointment. Had Feig assembled a sort of Charlie’s Angels-esque cast, I’d be more on board. But the women he has cast are hardly action stars. They’re not unfit or too old, they just don’t look the part. I absolutely love Melissa Mccarthy but she’s not an action hero. And whilst the Ghostbusters aren’t meant to be Thor or Captain America, they are also not a troupe of comediennes from Saturday Night Live.
There has been a lot of tweeting from the set – sneak peeks at what we should expect to see. And I am just very underwhelmed. Here’s why:
Ghostbusters is being rebooted. This is not a sequel. This isn’t the Ghostbusters III that all the children of the 80s were praying for. That’s fine – the original cast are all older now, one of them is dead (RIP Harold Ramis) and a second sequel would require fresh young meat anyway. If it were up to me, I’d still rather see a Ghostbusters III rather than a Ghostbusters 2.0. But a reboot is all about injecting freshness into a franchise, and installing it into the present day. And all I’m seeing is an elderly-looking Ecto-1 and proton packs that look a bit like the ones from 1984 but with a lick of metallic gloss on them.

I want this film to reflect the time it’s in. I suppose the whole female cast situation is actually doing that, bringing empowered women in to battle the supernatural, rather than men. But with that, I want gadgets and a futuristic car. Proton packs in 2016 would surely be less clunky, no? I would have updated Ecto-1 into a snazzy van or something, with a sliding side door with the Ghostbusters logo emblazoned on the side. I don’t want to betray everything we know and love about the original, but if you’re going to reboot something then emphasise the boot!
I want a Ghostbusters that has moved solidly out of the 80s. I want to see Janine Melnitz (who is going to be played by Chris Hemsworth in a male counterpart of the Ghostbusters’ receptionist) with a Bluetooth headset on, working from an iPad. But I’m half expecting Feig to tweet a picture of him one day soon answering a clunky rotary dial telephone a la Annie Potts circa 1989.
I won’t know what this film will be like until next summer, so I’m basically doing that thing where a fan panics hysterically when presented with just a smidgen of information. So I need to cool my jets. But in the interim – pass me a paper bag to breathe into.
Andrew Bullock is a producer, presenter and writer. You can read more at www.drewjbullock.wordpress.com