Anna Daniels
Everyone knows the answer to “Who you gonna call?” The question is, which batch of Ghostbusters would it be? There’s the original 1984 cast that includes Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd, or there’s the 2016 reboot that stars Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig. The fact is, most people probably think of the classic lineup when they hear the well-known song lyric.
That may have contributed to Sony Pictures releasing the all-female reboot as just Ghostbusters, even though they really wanted it to be called Ghostbusters: Answer the Call. It’s the title that appears at the end of the film’s credits but was rebuked as the main name by director Paul Feig. However, when the DVD came out, that’s what it was called.
Perhaps the change was made in hindsight to try to distance the film from the original because some people — particularly some men — were up in arms that it featured an all-female main cast. Despite the poor press, the movie made $128 million in the United States, for a total of $229 million worldwide. But it’s still considered a box-office disappointment because it cost $144 million to make. It seems doubtful, though, that the vague addition of Answer the Call helped boost DVD sales to make up some of the lost revenue.
Written by: Looper
