A new trailer for Ghostbusters was released yesterday. This one gives us more of the plot—still science dorks in New York bustin’ ghosts—and sets up the purpose of Chris Hemsworth’s character. Not every joke works, like the Leslie Jones stage diving bit, but then that demon joke toward the end is pretty great. Jones is really selling that bit. This continues to look promising, with unbelievable ghost effects and a talented comedic ensemble. Trailers for comedies are always risky—either they show you all the good jokes and then the movie can’t deliver on that promise, or they hold back the best stuff and you get a sort of middle of the road approach that doesn’t come across as gut-bustingly funny. It feels like Ghostbusters is going with door #2, which has been, to be fair, the approach of most Paul Feig comedy trailers (see also: Bridesmaids, Spy).
But watch this trailer and ask yourself, even if it doesn’t look particularly good to you, if NuGhostbusters deserves to be the most down-voted movie in Youtube history, because it is.The first trailer has racked up more dislikes than any other movie trailer, even trailers for legitimate sh*tshows like Dirty Grandpa, or unpopular remakes, like Total Recall. (Lainey: or any Adam Sandler movie, WTF?!) The reason why ought to be self-evident—dudes offended by the fact that the new Ghostbusters are all women have mobilized the world’s saddest hacktivist campaign to let their ire and frustration be known.
I’d like to blow this off completely, but there is an actual consequence here. If Ghostbusters doesn’t make a raft of cash to make up for all the sh*t and controversy being heaped on it, I can see producers and studios hesitating to try something like this again in future. If it hauls in the box office, then none of this will matter because it will be seen by the industry as nothing more than noise that didn’t amount to a hill of beans. But if Ghostbusters stumbles even the least little bit, it WILL cause hesitation. Female-led projects don’t get second chances, so there’s no margin for error. If Ghostbusters doesn’t work, this is a door that will be closed for a long time.
