Movies
Dan Aykroyd Double Down on ‘Ghostbusters’ Insults; Blames Lack of “Originators”
I’m not exactly sure what happened in the last few weeks to set him off, but Dan Aykroyd is launching an all-out assault on Paul Feig‘s Ghostbusters reboot, which was slimed in theaters last July.
Reading between the lines it’s starting to sound as if Columbia Pictures is putting the kibosh on a sequel, and now Aykroyd is insinuating that the film’s new ‘busters – Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, and Leslie Jones – won’t be returning either.
Yesterday, Aykroyd publicly blamed Feig for Ghostbusters‘ inability to perform at the box office, claiming that the director went $30-40 million over budget. While I don’t think that’s the sole factor in the film’s failures, the reported $140 million budget is ridiculous.
While Aykroyd does preface the bodyslam with admiration for the finished product, he’s now doubling down on the insults via a Facebook post.
So, in addition to blaming Feig for going way over budget, Aykroyd is now pointing fingers at the film’s screenplay and direction. Here, he’s insinuating that Feig is responsible for introducing new Ghostbusters and ignoring the “originators” (i.e. Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Ernie Hudson). This is absolutely ridiculous being that this is Aykroyd’s franchise for which he is one of the main producers of. He controls rights and direction, which means he would have had to approve the screenplay before the film could go into production. Not only did he vote “yes” for Feig’s all-female direction, but he approved the absolutely moronic decision to have all of the original stars return in cameos that did nothing for the story, yet removed the viewer from the experience.
I quite enjoyed Feig’s Ghostbusters, even if a failure, but can understand frustrations over a ballooning budget. Still, I can’t wrap my head around Aykroyd’s frustration with the decision to reboot the franchise instead of bringing back the “originators”. If anything, he may need to go and take a long look in the mirror before chastizing everyone around him.
But I digress, it’s hugely disappointing to hear Aykroyd ranting about the film’s failures as it’s implying that Columbia Pictures is done with the franchise for good, leaving it covered in red slime. Who knows what factors could arise to save the ‘busters, but as of this writing, it’s not looking good.
Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together – this is mass hysteria.
Abby (Melissa McCarthy), Erin (Kristen Wiig), Patty (Leslie Jones) and Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) get slimed in Columbia Pictures’ GHOSTBUSTERS.
Zach Cregger is no stranger to violent movies, with his first two at-bats in the horror genre yielding the films Barbarian and Weapons. But even those movies can’t compete with the level of violence on display in his next movie Resident Evil, he teases in a new chat.
Zach Cregger tells Empire Magazine that Resident Evil is “definitely the most violent thing I’ve done.” He teases, “You gotta go grotesque! I wanted to go all the way.”
“So it’s gnarly. It’s brutal,” Cregger continues. “A very bloody affair.”
He also tells Empire, “Fleshing out what [the Umbrella Corporation is] up to and how the T-virus works, that’s not what this movie is. This movie is about one dude’s journey on foot, fighting monsters. I don’t give a fuck about checking boxes. All I cared about was just telling a fun story. We step on the gas at about eight minutes in and never take our foot off the floor.”
Resident Evil opens in theaters and IMAX September 18 from Sony.
The film is being billed as “a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise” from the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger (Barbarian, Weapons).
Austin Abrams (Weapons) stars as Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.
Zach Cherry (“Severance”), Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”), Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), and Johnno Wilson (“Twisted Metal”) round out the cast.
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