Mass Hysteria!!!

You've probably heard that Paul Feig, best known for directing Bridesmaids and The Heat, is directing the all female Ghostbusters reboot. As a die hard Ghostbusters fan, I felt I needed to chime in on the "mass hysteria" that has resulted from this announcement.

First off, I've never actually cared one way or another whether a Ghostbusters 3 film ever came out. More of something isn't necessarily a good thing, and the Star Wars Prequels and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull are proof of that. With Harold Ramis passing away earlier this year, and Bill Murray's questionable involvement, GB3 seemed more and more unnecessary. And to me, the Ghostbusters Video Game that was released back in 2009 is the best representation of a sequel featuring the original cast.

Enter Paul Feig and his female driven comedies. Bridesmaids was hilarious. The Heat was not. So his track record is hit or miss. I have no problem with an all female cast of Ghostbusters. I would totally watch that just based on the Ghostbusters association. What I ultimately have a problem with is the fact that the movie will be a REBOOT. You have two films and even a video game's worth of history, and you're just going to ignore all of that? When has a reboot that has ignored the original source material ever succeeded? This year alone has seen RoboCop rebooted with middling success, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rebooted to box office success despite scathing reviews. But Ghostbusters isn't even getting this kind of treatment. It's getting brand new characters and a new direction. Reading comments about this on the Internet, you'd think the world was headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.



Yup, the Internet has lost their collective mind about this. And for a moment, I did too. But a reboot isn't going to sully the original films. Sony and Feig have every right to try and make money, and I have every right to not spend my money on it, or even give it a second thought. But who knows. Maybe it will surprise me.

So I'm willing to give Paul Feig a chance. Maybe he'll actually make a good and funny Ghostbusters movie. Or maybe it will just be a two-hour poop joke. Only time will tell.