Original Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd didn’t mince his words when talking about the recent reboot of the franchise on British TV this morning, claiming the 2016 Ghostbusters cost too much and blaming writer-director Paul Feig for the spending.
No Ghostbusters Sequel
Speaking on a show called Sunday Brunch, Aykroyd said: “I was really happy with the movie, but it cost too much. And Sony does not like to lose money – it made a lot of money around the world, but it just cost too much, making it economically not feasible to do another one. It’s too bad.”
He then laid the blame firmly at the door of Feig. “He spent too much on it” claimed Aykroyd. “He didn’t shoot scenes we suggested to him – several scenes that were going to be needed. And he said ‘No we don’t need them.’ Then we tested the movie and they needed them so he had to go back. About $30m-$40m in reshoots so he will not be back on the Sony lot anytime soon.”
And Aykroyd wasn’t done there, adding “You just can’t be profligate like that in the film business anymore. It’s just not acceptable.”
Sony wanted the Ghostbusters reboot to kick off a new franchise, but according to Box Office Mojo, the film cost $144m and made $229m worldwide. When you add in advertising and marketing costs, that’s not good, and resulted in Sony putting any proposed sequel on the back-burner.