#movie:ghostbusters

[kimhargreeves]

Ghost Hunting-Egon Spengler x Reader

(Based on the movie:Ghostbusters from 1984)

"I'd say we were destined to get out of that dump."

"You gotta be kidding me, we had the perfect job in that university and you blew it,Peter." i angrily glare at him but he just rolls his eyes and keeps talking to our friends. I just blew up half of my life on this, i just got fired because of Peter with the Ray and Egon. Ever since I was a kid I did all my best study hard and get in one of the best universities but everything's been flushed down the toilet.

I teach or..was teaching here at school history,psychics and science. I was teaching with my buddy and long time crush Egon Spengler, we both met through out Peter who desperately tried to ask me out but declined every time.

"Now we gotta open up our own business."

We all walked to the bank and received a check when Peter kept on telling Ray to sell the house he lived in as a kid. I felt bad for him when he held the check in his hands and frowned down at it, "That was the house I lived in as a kid,my parents and my grandparents." "I'm sorry Ray." i tell him and rested my hand on his shoulder.

"Trust me Ray, it's best you've done in years." i glare at Peter who acts like he doesn't care about Ray.

"Egon tell him something."

"Like what?" he asks looking down at me.

I roll my eyes and we began walking down the streets of New York finding a place for us to open up a ghost hunting business. After our little incident at the library Peter's been telling us to help people with the supernatural, which is weird considering he's kinda of an asshole to some people. A lady began to show us an old fire department and Ray was running around and sliding down the pole.

"There's office space,sleeping quarters and showers. on the next floor and there's a full kitchen on the top left." the lady says, "It seem a bit pricey for a unique fixer upper opportunity, that's all." Peter replies.

Egon and I stay silent looking around the place, "Egon,what do you think?" i ask stopping next to him.

"I think this building should he condemned. There's serious metal fatigue in all the load-bearing members. The wiring is substandard. It's inadequate for our power needs. And the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone." i press my mouth against my lips so I won't laugh out loud. The lady just stares at us surprised

"Hey does this pole still work?! This place is amazing! We should move here,tonight!" Ray says completely forgetting he sold his house. "How much is the place?" I ask the lady, Peter kept looking around the second the lady told me the price and it was more than we could afford, this only means i'll have to put a bit of my money and leave my apartment.

"It's way too much." I look at Egon with agrees with me and shakes his head when Ray comes back and begs us to move in. Egon and I hesitated to sign the papers and regretted every second we went back to the fire department and saw the walls ripped, spiderwebs in every corner and everything dusty.

"Well what are you waiting for? clean up!" Peter said and brought in a four brooms brooms,mops and other cleaning items.

"Oh no, don't think you'll get away with cleaning this time." i annoyingly tell him and pushed a broom to his chest.

"Hey for your information i'm allergic to dust." he tried defending himself.

I cross my arms and glare back at him, "Egon and I are allergic and we aren't complaining. Ray stop sliding down that pole and help us."

Ray and Egon began to clean the windows and every little furniture that was left while Peter and I began to broom the place. We stayed until the next morning cleaning up, I woke up on the couch resting my head against Egon's chest and embarrassed I jumped up when I saw Peter grinning and taking a picture on my polaroid.

The entire day Peter wouldn't stop teasing me and Egon just stared at us weirdly every time i'd shout at his friend, sometimes I wonder how they both began friends cause Egon's the reasonable and calm one while Peter is hard to understand and is a bit obnoxious. Ray on the other hand is the four of the team, he brings us all together and makes sure we're all doing our best.

We found a secretary in no time, her name is Janine and clearly she took the job cause she had no option. Peter and I had another discussion due to him asking the guys their measurements and everything cause he planned on wearing matching uniforms, we all agreed to put half of our money in the job so it was my right to have one too and join on their ghost hunting adventures.

If it wasn't for Egon being on my side i'd be doomed in this group. I had my uniform in my hands and began to head over to the bathroom to try it on when I passed Janine who was talking to Egon, "I heard there's a new restaurant that opened up, it's italian, do you like italian?maybe we hang around and know each other some more."

I angrily stomped away and stayed hidden in the bathroom for a while before I heard the alarm going on meaning that there's a ghost hunting case, hurriedly I changed into my jumpsuit and put on my boots, wiped my tears away and ran out of the bathroom and grabbed onto the pole and reached down the first level.

"Looking nice (Y/N)." Peter said smiling.

"The outfit suits you." Ray happily said putting his cigarette out.

"Thank you." i say to them both, i turn around and see Egon looking at me too "I agree..you do look nice." i can tell he's struggling with what to say,especially with that blush on his cheeks. "Thanks Egon..you look nice too." hurriedly we got on the Ecto-1 and rushed over to a very fancy hotel, we got in and I stared in awe at the place.

"Wow this place is huge."

"Try to not get distracted (Y/N)." Peter tells me. We begin to follow him when he begins asking people where the ghost is, a man hurried and told us that people saw a ghost upstairs so we reached the second floor and began looking for the ghost.

"Keep your eyes peeled for the nasty ghost"

"Let's split up and look for it."

We separated and I began walking down a hall when I noticed Egon behind me, i smile to myself and glanced back at him "Egon. Peter told us to search for the ghost separately." i stopped and fully turn to look at him.

He fakes a cough and refuses to look down at me, "I know. It's just our first time catching a ghost, so I want to make sure we do it properly." i try to not giggle at him coming up with a lie, I admit Egon's behavior has changed quite a bit over the couple of days with me, he'll sometimes avoid if I were alone and only hang out with me if Peter and Ray were together with me. I raise an eyebrow and stare at him behind his glasses I see him still looking away.

"Alright..let's find that ghost."

We began to walk side by side and frightened Egon almost hit a lady who was cleaning a room, "Look there he is!" i point straight ahead and see a weird looking green ghost hovering over trash can.

Slowly I began walking towards it, till it saw me and began flying to where I was. I got scared and coward out quickly running and falling down the ground, "I'm s-sorry!" i blush when i saw myself on top of Egon. I'm pretty sure my entire face was red and he could see it,quickly I crawled off him knowing he doesn't like people touching him. "(L/N), you there?"i hear Ray's voice through the walkie talkie.

"Have you seem the ghost?"

"I did..I was ready to catch him but got scared the last second."

"That's too bad...hey come quick..Peter said he saw him."

"Okay."

Egon and I ran over to where Ray told us to go and se saw Peter on the ground, "He slimed me." i look down at him disgusted at the slime "That's disgusting."

"That's great! Actual physical contact!" Ray excitedly tells him.

Peter got up and Egon began collecting some slime to his research "Hear that?" the boys stayed silent and quickly I got down and pressed my ear against the floor. "He's down in the ballroom!"

"Great!"

"Let's go!"

The four of us began to run down the stairs and locked the door behind us once we entered the ballroom, "Now let's make some room." the boys began the throw the well decorated tables onto the floor and stacking some up. "There he is!" i grabbed a glass vase and threw it on top the chandelier making it all to the ground "Make sure to not cross the streams." Egon warns us when the boys began to capture the ghost.

I held the door together since the man behind us was getting frustrated and began shouting on the other side for the keys. "(Y/N), get over here and help us!" Peter shouted.I ran and thew the trap on the floor and together we caught the green ghost the boys called Slimer. "We did it!!" we all high fived each other and Peter opened up the doors and the place was crowded.

"We came,we saw, we kicked it's ass!"

Ray held onto where the trap and the man in charge stared at us afraid, "You catch it?! Will there be more?!" he asks when Ray hold up the trap which is covering in smoke. "What you had there was what we refer to as a focused non-terminal repeating phantasm, or a class five full roaming vapor." i say to the man and took out my gloves.

"Yeah and a real nasty one too." Ray says next.

"And now let's talk seriously." I smirk and glance over to Egon and Peter. "Now for the entrapment, we're gonna have to ask you.." i glance behind me and see Egon holding out four fingers to me, "For four big ones, 4000 dollars."

"But we are having a special this week on proton charging and storage of the beast. That's only gonna come to 1000 dollars,fortunately." Peter says finishing what I said.

The man stares at has like he's gonna have a heart attacks any second, "Five thousand dollars? I had no idea it'd be so much. I won't pay it."

I shrug my shoulder and look back at Ray "Well,that's all right. My friend here can just put it back." Ray nods and begins to walk to the ballroom again before the man stops him. "No! All right!" the man agrees stopping Ray.

"Thank you. Hope we can help you again." I sarcastically tell the man and we all walk down to the car with smiles on our faces. We all cheered again on our way home and began to have a giant feast, "To us the Ghostbusters!" Peter says raising up a glass and began drinking away the bottle on wine we bought.

"We all did an amazing job,especially you Egon." i timidly tell him and see Ray nudging him. "Thanks..you also did a good job." he replies pushing up his glasses. I said my goodnight to them and began heading to my small room since there was one empty room and the guys had their room to share. "(Y/N)." i stop when I heard Egon's voice behind me.

"I was wondering if you'd like to spend tomorrow evening with me-"

"Of course, it'll be my pleasure." I look up to him and wrapped my arms around Egon "Goodnight,Egon." slowly he wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his head against my shoulder. We pulled away and before I went in my room I gave him a quick kiss on his lips before shutting the door behind me, "I'm so glad to become a Ghostbuster."

[smolstarkrogers]

tagged by @thewintersdoll and @tonystarkd ( thanks cuties!) Goal: tag 9 people to get to know them Relationship status: eh…cats? Favorite color: the color of your eyes jk it's red Lipstick or chapstick: chapstick Last song: sleepyhead by passion pit Last movie:Ghostbusters (the old version bc I haven't seen the new one it) Top 3 shows: Teen wolf supernatural and bob burgers Top 3 ships: Stony( duh!) winteriron( bc that shit cute) and sterek ( bc they're one of first ships I found on my own)

Tagging: @tisfan @jarvis-is-my-copilot @scottishaccentsareawesome @briefpaperexpert @steveplustony @madisonfawn @nerfherding-smuggler @one-piece-of-harry @we-dream-togther

[gwynnew]

'Ghostbusters' Director Paul Feig on Deleted Dance Numbers and Whether or Not a Sequel Could Happen

Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, and Kristen Wiig (Photo: Columbia)

In the extended edition of Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (the full title of the 2016 reboot), there is a dance scene between Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig that is quite possibly one of the funniest things they’ve ever committed to film. “That was a real tough one to cut out of the movie because I absolutely loved it,” director Paul Feig tells Yahoo Movies, in a conversation about the new Blu-ray release of the extended edition (available today).

Here’s the set-up: Paranormal investigators Erin (Wiig) and Abby (McCarthy), lifelong friends who have reunited after a falling-out, perform an educational dance presentation about ghosts that they created together as kids. Dressed in black turtlenecks, Erin and Abby proudly show off their middle-school choreography and recite lyrics about the science of the supernatural (“Para! Normal! Is! Normal!”) while the other Ghostbusters (played by Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones) watch open-mouthed.

Related: A Reminder That Women-Led Movies Aren’t ‘Risky’ After the ‘Ghostbusters’ Near Miss

“While we were writing, there was a point where I felt like, I want to see Abby and Erin’s relationship from when they were kids. I want to see how nerdy they were,” says Feig. The director commissioned cheesy, futuristic dance music in the vein of Meco’s disco Star Wars album from composer Teddy Shapiro, and the actresses collaborated with choreographer (and So You Think You Can Dance alum) Stephen “tWitch” Boss to create their routine. But after test screenings, it became clear that the hilarious sequence fell in the wrong place — a moment where the audience “wanted to get to the next ghost attack,” Feig explains.

Fortunately, Feig was able to put the dance in the director’s cut, which contains 15 minutes of never-before-seen footage — including that other dance sequence featuring Chris Hemsworth’s character Kevin, which Feig incorporated into the closing credits after cutting it from the film. (Kevin’s dance was eliminated late in the game, he explains, because it paused the action and “made everything feel very episodic��� in the climactic Times Square ghost battle, “so it didn’t flow together.”) In addition to the extended version, the Blu-ray edition contains over 3 hours of bonus features, including extra deleted scenes, gag reels, and making-of featurettes, like a surprisingly illuminating look at how the effects team created slime.

Related: ‘Ghostbusters’: All the Callbacks, Cameos, and Easter Eggs You Might Have Missed

The greatest bonus, though, is the chance to spend more time with the ladies of Ghostbusters — and Kevin — through all the additional footage, much of which serves to deepen the relationship between the characters. (There’s even an extended version of Abby and Erin’s deleted dance sequence. This Blu-ray isn’t messing around.) As to whether we’ll ever get to see these Ghostbusters in another film, Feig will only concede that it’s “hard to say” — and that it’s not up to him.

“The studio’s the one that would pay for another one, so, I don’t know, honestly,” Feig says of a potential sequel to Ghostbusters (which reportedly cost around $144 million and lost money in the final tally.) “Now more people will be able to see it than saw it in the theaters, and if it does well, and people really start to feel like they really want to see these characters again, then that’s a very valid thing for the studio. But it’s ultimately their call. And I’ve never made a sequel for any one of my other movies. But it would be fun. This is a big world and those characters are so great.”

Watch a ‘Ghostbusters’ trailer:

[nickschager-blog]

'Ghostbusters' Will Get an Extended Cut on Blu-ray — Will That Include the Chris Hemsworth Dance Sequence?

‘Ghostbusters’ (Photo: Sony)

After enduring endless online slings and arrows ahead of its July debut, Paul Feig’s rebooted Ghostbusters earned a disappointing $125 million haul at the box office. Given the costs associated with producing and marketing it, that may not be enough to nab it a sequel — but fans craving more supernatural comedy action can look forward to the upcoming Blu-ray of the film, which is set to include a ton of additional content.

The upcoming home-video release of Ghostbusters will debut an extended cut boasting 15 minutes of all-new footage that was excised from the theatrical feature. Given the somewhat poor track record, quality-wise, of such expanded comedy releases, it remains to be seen if this new version will improve upon the original. We’re holding out hope though, that at least one of these new sequences is the big Chris Hemsworth dance number —in which he leads police officers and soldiers in a Bee Gees-scored boogie through Times Square — that reportedly cost a seven-figure sum to produce and then was relegated to the end-credits outtake reel after it tested poorly with early audiences.

Otherwise, the Blu-ray will be jam-packed with three hours of additional content:

Ghostbusters Extended Edition & Theatrical Version

2 gag reels

4 deleted scenes

11 alternate scenes and more than 60 minutes of additional extended and alternate scenes with Ultraviolet download

6 alternate take reels

5 Featurettes: “Chris Hemsworth is ‘Kevin’”; “The Ghosts of Ghostbusters”; “Meet the Team”; “Visual Effects: 30 Years Later”; “Slime Time”

Filmmaker commentaries

Photo gallery

Ghostbusters will debut on Digital HD on Sept. 27, and then on 4K/Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack, Blu-ray, and DVD – replete with the above special features – on Oct. 11.

Watch the trailer:

[kevinpolowy]

Screenwriter Katie Dippold on How 'Ghostbusters' Changed and Why 'The Heat 2' Isn't Happening

‘Ghostbusters’ screenwriter Katie Dippold (Getty Images)

"I was super-psyched, and also terrified." That was Katie Dippold's reaction to a lunch meeting she had with Paul Feig two years ago at San Diego Comic-Con, where the writer-director asked her to co-pen his yet-to-be-announced, all-female Ghostbusters.

Dippold already had the pedigree. She wrote The Heat, the Sandra Bullock-Melissa McCarthy action comedy directed by Feig that became a box-office smash in 2013 and gave the young scribe what they would call in Hollywood, well, heat. She was also on the writing staff of NBC's beloved comedy Parks and Recreation and Fox's MADtv.

But this was a whole other beast. It was a Marshmallow Man-sized responsibility, and the project instantly faced scrutiny for treading on the hallowed ground once occupied by Venkman, Stantz, and company in the 1984 fan favorite. In the end, though, "it was all from love," Dippold told Yahoo Movies. "It was a love letter to the original." And like any major studio blockbuster produced, there were countless tweaks between Feig and Dippold's first draft and the film's arrival in theaters this past weekend. Dippold, who is currently on the Hawaii set of the still-untitled comedy she wrote for Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn, broke down a bunch of those changes in our recent interview.

Warning: Ghostbusters spoilers ahead

I imagine a lot of the earliest conversations you and Paul had revolved around defining the film's tone. Where did you start, and what ultimately did you strive for? It was first to have new characters and a new story. At first he wanted it to be really scary. And so I actually think the first draft of the script is actually a lot scarier than it came out. Which is intentional, we wanted people younger to see it and for it to be fun for everyone. So I think that's one thing that changed over time.

And we both love horror comedy, and for me the ones that work — it's so rare that it works — I love Shaun of the Dead and American Werewolf in London and Cabin in the Woods. But I think for me the thing that works is when the characters are all real people, really grounded people, who happen to be funny in dealing with really intense, scary situations. And that's something I loved about the original. Those are four completely real people. So that was another thing that we thought about a lot.

Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, and Leslie Jones in ‘Ghostbusters’ (Sony)

Why did you guys decide to create a new universe for these Ghostbusters, instead of, say, having them inherit the business from Venkman and crew? That was all [Paul], that's how it was first presented to me. I think for him, he loves an origin story. He didn't want it to feel like these people were getting passed the equipment... And also doing a movie where this city had survived two ghost attacks, I think he just felt would feel tired or something. And there's something fun about seeing something come together.

As a fan, I, too, would have loved to see a sequel. I would go crazy to see Venkman be Venkman again... But I don't want anyone other than the original team to touch those characters…. To me this felt like a more respectful way to do it, honestly.

Speaking of Venkman, do you have any good Bill Murray stories? When he came on set, everyone [makes gasping noise] gasped. It was just this amazing presence coming on. And he was just lovely and delightful and joking around with the crew, and he was just really nice. I couldn't completely enjoy it, because for the past year I had been wondering if Bill Murray would do a cameo in this movie, and I didn't know until a couple days before, for sure, if he was going to do it.

You never know if Bill Murray is going to do anything until he shows up. Yeah. So when he did show up, I was like, "I can't relax until the film is brought somewhere, like a safe." I was so scared something was going to stop this from happening. I was just kind of in frozen panic, just watching.

Related: How the 'Ghostbusters' Team Landed All Those Cameos From the Original Cast Members

Did it take a lot back and forth with him to finalize his character, given how he was the most hesitant of the original cast to do another movie? No, not really. We just sent him the script and just waited to hear. And then one day he was like, "OK, I'll go." So it was just waiting.

So his role never changed at all. Did any of the other cameos? With Dan Aykroyd … we originally had a scene in the script where there was this spiritual adviser named Rick Gale that we were hoping he would do. But then we ended up cutting the scene because it was kind of slowing down the story. Paul's thing was he didn't want it to feel like things were jammed in there... So he tried as much as possible to put [them] in [roles] that were already in the script.

Originally in the script the taxicab won't pick her up, but then when he drives off without her, a ghost gets in the cab and kind of attacks him. But then we realized, I don't know that we want to see Dan Aykroyd attacked [laughs]. That seemed terrible.

Dan Aykroyd at the premiere of ‘Ghostbusters’ (Getty)

Sigourney was probably the one that was most written for someone. And that one was the hardest one to figure out... God, I pitched on so many different versions of that cameo. One I wanted to do, but it was real hit or miss, when no one was believing them, as they're driving in the city, and then this woman walks up, Sigourney Weaver, and she's just like, "Hey, you know what? I don't care what anyone says, I think what you guys are doing is great, and I absolutely believe everything you're saying." And then they're like, "Oh my God, thank you so much." And there there's a couple options. One is she just walks away and then just lays down on the ground like a crazy person. Another one was she says that same thing to someone else on the street. Because she's just a crazy person who just says this to everyone.

The film faced a lot of backlash from angry fans. Did you have to deal with any of that personally? Not really. In the beginning there were some tweets directed at me. I feel like for some reason I haven't gotten a lot of it in my direction. Every now and then I'll see something and it's alarming. And I clutch my pearls and gasp.

I tried the best I possibly could to make the funnest movie I could, or to write the script in the funnest way I thought possible. At the end of the day there's nothing to really argue with. People will see the movie, I really hope they like it. If they don't, that makes me sad. And if they do, great. But it just feels pointless to argue about beforehand, you know?

Are you able to step away from it and appreciate that it's almost become bigger than the movie itself, in terms of the cultural debate it's helping spark about sexism and gender roles in movies? Yeah, I appreciate it in the sense that… I appreciate the pressure that it's added. I think people are looking at this to help push a movement, and I really hope it does. It's nervewracking, but I wish it wasn't even an issue.

But it did make for a couple great lines — and those got some of the biggest laughs at the screening I attended. Like Kristen Wiig's line about "ain't no bitch gonna be busting no ghost." Yeah, in the script I think the line was a little less "I hate you" but also a little less family-friendly. In the script it was, "I wanna slap them with dis d**k." That's what was in the script [laughs]. Then on the day, it was changed.

Related: How 'Ghostbusters' Takes on Its Haters — And Why It's Become More Than Just a Movie

So that was clearly your intent, though, to respond to them? I honestly don't even know if we were looking to do it, but it was so in our brain, do you know what I mean? Because it really was our beginning to the story, them putting up these videos and being shut down, but then when that stuff was happening at the same time, I think it just made its way through.

I read that you guys tweaked some of the actual Ghostbuster roles as well — like Leslie was going to be a scientist and Melissa was going to be the subway attendant? Paul was thinking about all sorts of people and having a tough time nailing it down, so he said, "Let's just write it and then look at the characters and the dynamics." So we set up four distinct characters and let their dynamics play and then looked at it and cast it. So in my mind, I just kept picturing Melissa as the MTA worker, and I had no idea who else the cast would be. But one, I'm just used to writing for Melissa now, with The Heat and The Heat sequel, which isn't happening now, but… I also just think Melissa frustrated is really funny to me, her flustered. So the idea of her going from an MTA worker to suddenly being chased by ghosts I thought would be hilarious. And also I think she's really funny dealing with any kind of elitism at all. So in The Heat when she was up against Sandra Bullock being this pretentious FBI agent, her dealing with some smarty-pants scientists, even though they're the underdogs, I just think she would've been really funny doing that. But that was not anything official.

But then I do think Paul said, "Well, but we've seen her play that before, like in The Heat." And then he thought Leslie is such a powerhouse he just wanted to put her in there.

Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy in ‘The Heat’ (Fox)

Why isn't The Heat sequel happening anymore? We can't get Sandra Bullock to do it. She said she doesn't want to do any more sequels. I'm still hopeful she'll change her mind because I really, really, really think she's great. And I really loved this sequel. In the first one it's revealed that she put the wrong man away, the Red Falls Killer, so the sequel starts with the guy she put away coming out of jail and she's trying to right this wrong and go after the real Red Falls Killer. So it's them kind of in The Silence of the Lambs world. It was really fun doing that.

But it's more of a blanket deal, Sandra Bullock just doesn't want to do sequels at all? I don't even know if she's read it. She just said pretty early on that she didn't want to do a sequel. I actually read the headline, I remember I was like three-quarters into the script and I remember I saw on a headline on like Huffington Post or something it said, "Sandra Bullock Has No Interest in Doing a Sequel." I was like, "Oh! Well. Hit save on this, take a break."

Would you guys consider doing it with someone else? I don't know. To me it's so about those two characters. I can't imagine — not that I'm comparing it to Lethal Weapon — but any of my favorite buddy cop movies, the idea of one of them changing would just bum me out.

Chris Hemsworth's Kevin character is hilarious in this movie, and I'm not just saying that as a Kevin, but I did appreciate it. Did you always intend for him to be (a) male, and (b) the hunky male? We always thought male. At least in the script, the hunky part wasn't super-important. And actually even Kristen having a crush on him, she just kind of improvised and started doing it. That was something that happened during production.

Kevin probably changed the most because originally his character was this apathetic [guy]… I thought about what would have to be the most frustrating thing for them to deal with in an assistant? Cause these people are trying so hard to do this thing and they're really passionate trying to prove something. So I thought they'd have this guy who was super-apathetic… But then in hindsight, I don't think apathy is the funnest thing to play. And also because we changed it so he's rescued in the third act. Melissa had a point like, "We need to care about getting this person back." So we started playing around with it and Chris started improvising a lot, and it kind of became this lovable dummy.

Related: Chris Hemsworth's Funniest Pre-'Ghostbusters' Moments

My favorite parts of him are when he's just really strange and you're like, "What is this dude's deal?" And there was so much stuff he improvised that didn't go in. Even in the interview scene there's a take where they're watching him and he's looking at a fire capacity [sign] and it says, "24," and he looks at it and then counts the three of them, just to make sure they're under capacity. He's a really great improviser.

Have you guys talked sequel yet? I am being real careful. There are directions that I think would be really fun to go in, but I can't even allow myself to think like that… I just can't let myself think that far ahead. I just hope people can enjoy this. Just stop there and then see.

[yahoo-premium-partners]

Paul Feig Sparks Twitter Movement After 'Ghostbusters' Star Leslie Jones Shares Hate Posts

Leslie Jones arrives at the L.A. premiere of 'Ghostbusters' on July 9, 2016 (Photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

By THR Staff

The Ghostbusters reboot has been hit with its fair share of internet attacks, and director Paul Feig continues to say: Enough.

Speaking up against people on social media who are personally attacking one of his stars, Leslie Jones, the director of the reboot quickly had the hashtag #LoveForLeslieJ trending on Monday night.

"Leslie Jones is one of the greatest people I know," he tweeted. "Any personal attacks against her are attacks against us all. #LoveForLeslieJ @Lesdoggg"

Leslie Jones is one of the greatest people I know. Any personal attacks against her are attacks against us all. #LoveForLeslieJ @Lesdoggg

— Paul Feig (@paulfeig)

July 18, 2016

Quickly after Feig's message, #LoveForLeslieJ sat near the top of Twitter's trending list as others in Hollywood followed Feig's lead, including the film's co-writer Katie Dippold (see below).

Jones, who has taken to Twitter to decry the sexist attacks she's received on social media before, fought back by retweeting many of the racist and misogynistic posts she'd received on Monday.

Related: Box-Office Analysis: Why the 'Ghostbusters' Reboot May Haunt Sony

"Exposing I hope y'all go after them like they going after me," she tweeted Monday afternoon. She then followed that tweet with hours of reshared posts she's received.

Jones' tweeting continued well into the night, with the actress calling on Twitter to delete and block several of the accounts, seemingly to no avail.

"I didn't do anything to deserve this," she said, adding later: "I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart. All this cause I did a movie. You can hate the movie but the shit I got today...wrong."

Twitter I understand you got free speech I get it. But there has to be some guidelines when you let spread like that. You can see on the

— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg)

July 19, 2016

I feel like I'm in a personal hell. I didn't do anything to deserve this. It's just too much. It shouldn't be like this. So hurt right now.

— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg)

July 19, 2016

Profiles that some of these people are crazy sick. It's not enough to freeze Acct. They should be reported.

— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg)

July 19, 2016

I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart.All this cause I did a movie.You can hate the movie but the shit I got today...wrong

— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg)

July 19, 2016

Feig's take on the 1984 classic — which also stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon as the Ghostbusters, along with Jones, in the Sony reboot — opened to an estimated $46 million in North America this past weekend.

See some of the social media reactions supporting Jones below.

I love @lesdoggg Not only brilliant but one of the kindest people I've ever met

— Katie Dippold (@katiedippold)

July 18, 2016

The vile acts of racism and white fragility that @Lesdoggg is facing on her Twitter feed is absolutely disgusting. #America2016

— Matt McGorry (@MattMcGorry)

July 18, 2016

Stand with @Lesdoggg #loveforlesliej she is an inspiration and a legend in the making pic.twitter.com/dqotlPAETd

— Margaret Cho (@margaretcho)

July 18, 2016

Hey, @twitter & @twittersupport: You need to head to @Lesdoggg's feed & start deleting the accounts of the racist shits spewing crap at her.

— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage)

July 18, 2016

PD & I met @Lesdoggg on a plane 3 years ago. She was unbelievably kind, funny & shone so bright, it was crystal clear that she'd be a star 💗

— zoe kazan (@zoeinthecities)

July 18, 2016

‘Ghostbusters’: Watch the character vignette for Leslie Jones’ Patty:

[ethanalter]

'Ghostbusters' End Credits: Setting Up a Potential Sequel and More to Watch For

Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, and Leslie Jones in 'Ghostbusters’ (Columbia Pictures)

After this weekend, Sony ain’t afraid of no ghosts or Ghostbusters, for that matter. The unexpectedly controversial reboot of Ivan Reitman’s 1984 favorite earned a not-at-all horrifying $46 million for its debut weekend, as well as a B+ Cinemascore from general audiences. That gave Sony’s distribution president, Rory Bruer, incentive to promise that new Ghostbusters Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones will be suiting up again in the near future. Speaking to The Wrap, Bruer remarked: “The Ghostbusters world is alive and well. I expect Ghostbusters to become an important brand and franchise. While nothing has been officially announced yet, there’s no doubt in my mind it will happen.”

Related: ‘Ghostbusters’: All the Callbacks, Cameos, and Easter Eggs You Might Have Missed

Of course, if you stayed through the end credits, you already know that director Paul Feig is fairly confident in his sequel prospects. A short scene before the final cut-to-black all but promises who the villain will be when the quartet is called back into action, and it’s a four-letter name that will be instantly familiar to Ghostbusters fans. No, not Vigo. Allow Jones’s savvy ’buster, Patty Tolan, to give you the 411: While listening in on the EVP-enabled headphones that Abby (McCarthy) and Holtzmann (McKinnon) used to play a joke on Erin (Wiig) at the beginning of the film, she hears something that sure doesn’t sound like a laughing matter. Turning to her comrades in slime, she asks, “What’s Zuul?” and is only greeted with blank stares in return.

As most viewers will know all too well, Zuul isn’t a “what,” but a “who.” Specifically, Zuul is an emissary of Gozer, the shape-shifter who transforms from a David Bowie-esque glam rocker into a super-sized version of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man that Dan Aykroyd’s Ray Stantz accidentally conjures into existence during the climax of the original Ghostsbusters. Gozer’s ultimate agenda was to usher in a ghost-pocalypse, a desire shared by the reboot’s main bad guy, Rowan (Neil Casey), but, thankfully, thwarted by the new team. We’ll have to wait and see whether this new Zuul is paving the way for Gozer or is more of a freelance operative. Either way, his presence doesn’t spell good things for the new Ghostbusters.

That scene is a fun tag to the end of a fun film, but it’s far from the only reason to stay through the closing credits. The entire credits reel is almost a mini-movie in and of itself, complete with bonus scenes, snazzy CGI graphics, and even an entire deleted sequence that doesn’t appear in the film proper. 

Related: How the ‘Ghostbusters’ Team Landed All Those Cameos From the Original Cast Members

Next to the Zuul reveal, the most notable bonus scene in the Ghostbusters credit sequence has to be Sigourney Weaver’s cameo as Rebecca Gorin, Holtzmann’s mentor, who helped her build a “ghost containment unit” that will house all the spirits their proton packs vacuum up. The actress is one of the many stars of the ’84 film to re-appear here, and it may be the funniest cameo of the bunch. That’s largely because Weaver channels her pupil’s infectiously wacky spirit; in fact, the potent comic chemistry she shares with McKinnon during her brief appearance has us hoping this isn’t the last we see of the dynamic duo of Gorin & Holtzmann.

Another scene, meanwhile, reveals some of the new ghostbusting tech we might see in the sequel, including the “bear trap” that was teased way back in the first trailer. And in between these moments, images of the Ecto-1 and various ghosts accompany the credits on screen while Elle King’s “Good Girls,” blasts through the speakers. (King’s tune, by the way, seems to have replaced Fall Out Boy’s cover of Ray Parker Jr.’s original “Ghostbusters” anthem, which didn’t exactly have a lot of fans.)

But wait, there’s more! Midway through the credits scrawl, you’ll start seeing — but not hearing, as the original audio isn’t included — scenes from the big finale in Times Square, which serves as the climactic battleground for Rowan and the Ghostbusters. At this point, Rowan’s spirit is still inside the strapping body of himbo secretary, Kevin (Chris Hemsworth), and he’s frozen dozens of New York City citizens, including a pair of FBI agents played by Michael Kenneth Williams and Matt Walsh, in place. In the movie itself, they remain still as statues.

Related: Chris Hemsworth’s Funniest Pre-’Ghostbusters’ Moments

But in the footage glimpsed here, you can see Rowan-as-Kevin leading the public in a Michael Jackson-esque dance routine that, per the credits, is choreographed by none other than Stephen “tWitch” Boss of So You Think You Can Dance fame. Production designer Jefferson Sage told Yahoo Movies in a discussion of the Times Square production sequence that the dancing was indeed shot to be part of the main film, at a point when Rowan-as-Kevin decides he “wanted to have a little fun.” 

Director Paul Feig spoke with Vulture about the sequence, telling the site it was done to the Bee Gees’ “You Should Be Dancing.” While he told Vulture he loves the sequence (“This was the biggest decision of my life, whether to keep this scene in the movie or not”), he took it out and made it over to use in the credits because “it was stopping the flow for the audience” and “it was hurting our story a little bit.” The good news for fans who really want to see Hemsworth get dancing: Feig promises “when the extended cut comes out on DVD, we restored the full scene into the body of the movie, with effects.”

For now, at least, the chance to get a first look at Hemsworth’s dance moves are just one more reason why you should stay put once the Ghostbusters credits start rolling.

‘Ghostbusters’: Meet Chris Hemsworth’s Kevin:

[marcuserrico]

'Ghostbusters': All the Callbacks, Cameos, and Easter Eggs You Might Have Missed

From the beginning, director Paul Feig has insisted his female-fronted Ghostbusters existed in an alternate universe where the events of the original 1984 bro-powered blockbuster never happened. No Keymaster. No streams crossed. No Stay Puft Marshmallow Man laying waste to the Upper West Side. But that doesn’t mean the new Ghostbusters ignores its predecessor. Feig has stuffed his film, arriving in theaters this weekend, with callbacks, cameos, and Easter eggs that fully embrace the Ivan Reitman-helmed classic. We’ve assembled a viewer’s guide to the most notable homages to watch out for; be warned, however: there are spoilers galore below, so bookmark this page for repeat trips to the cineplex.

The OG Ghostbusters

We knew that all the surviving stars from the 1984 film save Rick “Keymaster” Moranis were going to appear in the new version; what we didn’t know was how Feig and cohorts would also pay tribute to the late Harold Ramis. Ramis, who co-wrote the original with Dan Aykroyd and played the team’s tech whiz Egon Spengler, died in 2014 at age 69. But he gets lots of love in Ghostbusters. The film is dedicated to him. His son Daniel appears in a concert scene, billed as “Metal Head,” per IMDb. And best of all, he even gets some face time. When Columbia Dean Harold Filmore (Charles Dance) pays a visit to Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) reminding her that her big tenure review is coming up, the camera lingers on a bust in the hallway outside her office. It’s Ramis. Keep your eyes peeled — it’s easy to miss if you’re not paying attention.

More: How the ‘Ghostbusters’ Team Landed All Those Cameos

Bill Murray, whose Peter Venkman was the undeniable star of the 1984 movie, clocks the most screen time of any of the original cast. He plays Martin Heiss, a famous skeptic out to debunk the claims of the Ghostbusters. He appears in two scenes: once on a TV news show and then later in the film when he turns up at the team’s HQ, where he makes the fatal error of unleashing a trapped ghost.

Annie Potts (put-upon secretary Janine Melnitz) surfaces as the apathetic desk clerk at the Mercado Hotel, the Manhattan establishment that is spook central.

Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd in 1984 ‘Ghostbusters’ (Columbia Pictures)

Dan Aykroyd (Ray Stantz) briefly rolls in as a cabbie during the climactic spirit invasion of Times Square, noting the “Class 5 Golden Vapors [are] nothing to worry about” before announcing, “I don’t go to Chinatown, I don’t drive wackos, and I ain’t afraid of no ghosts.”

Ernie Hudson (Winston Zeddmore) turns up at the very end, playing the uncle who comes looking for the ill-fated hearse he loaned his niece Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones). She informs him it’s on the “other side” (“Jersey?” comes the reply), and tells him he’ll just have to make due with one hearse and double up on the bodies. “What? I’m not stacking them like flapjacks!” he says as the credits start to roll and the theme music plays.

Finally, Sigourney Weaver (the possessed Dana Barrett) arrives during the beginning of the credits. She plays Jillian Holtzmann’s mentor, a character named Rebecca Gorin. After proclaiming that her equipment is dangerous, they bond over their shared derring-do: “Safety lights are for dudes.”

The Theme Song

After the prologue, Ray Parker Jr.’s theme is briefly played; it’s reprised in an instrumental version as the Ghostbusters roll into action at the start of the third act and at the beginning of the credits before giving way to the Fall Out Boy-Missy Elliott remake, which is also is heard during the movie.

The Gear

Like Winston said in ’84, “We have the tools, we have the talent.” Updated versions of the classic jumpsuits, proton packs, PKE (psycho-kinetic energy) meters, ghost traps, and ecto goggles are present, all creations of Holtzmann, the spiritual successor to Spengler.

The Logo

The seminal Ghostbusters logo returns, but this time we get a backstory. Holtzmann is inspired to adopt the image after a subway hoodlum (Nate Corddry) spray-paints it on the wall.

The secret origin of the seminal symbol is revealed (Sony Pictures)

The Ride

The logo adorns the team’s uniforms and their newfangled Ectomobile. While the old-school vehicle was a pimped-out 1958 Cadillac Miller-Meteor ambulance rescued from a salvage yard, the latest is a 1980s Caddy hearse wagon (sorry, Uncle Bill!). Both share the ECTO-1 license plate.

The new Ectomobile accessorized with ghostly hood ornament (Sony Pictures)

The HQ

After getting booted from academia, the OG crew wound up hanging their shingle in a New York firehouse, Hook and Ladder Company 8, bankrolled by Ray. The new film gives a nod to the location, as a Realtor shows the same space to the team, which is excited to shack up there until they learn the rent will be $21K a month. At the film’s conclusion, newly flush with funds from the city, the Ghostbusters finally set up shop at the firehouse.

Hook & Ladder Company 8 is back (Sony Pictures)

The Ghosts

The key spirits from 1984 are back. Slimer materializes during the climactic attack on Times Square, hijacking the Ecto-1 and taking it for a joy ride. 

Slimer finds love and more hot dogs in new ‘Ghostbusters’ (Sony Pictures)

When he reappears, he has acquired a lady friend, who looks just like him except with a blond wig. Mr. Stay Puft returns as one of the creepy balloons that terrorize the streets of Times Square. Kristen Wiig gets slimed. And the logo ghost gets supersized into the biggest, baddest of the spirits in the final showdown. 

The logo ghost terrorizes Times Square (Sony Pictures)

During the post-credit tag, Patty listens to a recording from a purported haunted house, turns to the team, and says, “What’s Zuul?” — not only setting up a potential sequel, but also paying tribute to the apocalyptic demon that possesses Sigourney Weaver and wreaks havoc on New York in the original.

The Other Cameos

Whereas the 1984 film was stocked with appearances by Larry King, Joe Franklin, and Casey Kasem as themselves, the new version features Al Roker, New York TV fixture Pat Kiernan, and Ozzy Osbourne. Poor Ozzy’s part was recorded before his split with wife Sharon, adding an unintended poignancy to his line reading of “Sharon, I think I’m having another flashback.”

Pat Kiernan (above) and Al Roker (below) pop up in new ‘Ghostbusters’ (Sony Pictures)

[kristensanter-yahoo-blog]

'Ghostbusters': How the Classes of 1984 and 2016 Looked in Real-Life H.S. Yearbook Photos

Long before they put on the garbagemen-inspired uniforms, when all the future Ghostbusters were graduating from high school, their yearbook photos reveal the young spitting images of their respective on-screen characters. The 1984 and 2016 Ghostbusters stars had a wide range of high school senior years, from the 1960s through the early 2000s, although each decade now seems just as dated as the others (who ever thought these hairstyles were cool?). 

Bill Murray (1968/1984)

Bill Murray presents a nice, small smile for his senior year photograph at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Ill. Not 20 years later, Murray would adopt a cheekier grin when delivering some of the classic Ghostbusters one-liners as Dr. Peter Venkman. (Photo: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library/Everett Collection)

Dan Aykroyd (1969/1984)

Dan Aykroyd ditched the glasses after St. Patrick's High School in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and went on to write the campy, now classic idea of four adult men fighting ghosts, including his own Dr. Raymond Stantz. (Photo: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library/REX)

Sigourney Weaver (1967/1984)

Sigourney Weaver may have the least embarrassing senior year portrait out of the Ghostbusters cast at Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, Conn. She would trade in her ’60s middle part for some iconic ’80s curls as Dana Barrett, or Zuul. (Photo: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library/Everett Collection)

Ernie Hudson (1964/1984)

Ernie (Earnest Lee) Hudson also skipped the awkward phase his senior year at Benton Harbor High School in Benton Harbor, Mich., and later completed the Ghostbusters team as Winston Zeddmore. (Photo: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library/Everett Collection)

Harold Ramis (1962/1984)

Harold Ramis hardly changed from his senior year at Senn High School in Chicago to Dr. Egon Spengler, and seemed to use his nerdy spectacles as an inspiration for his Ghostbusters eyewear. (Photo: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library/Everett Collection)

Annie Potts (1970/1984)

Annie Potts changed from her doe-eyed senior year at Franklin Simpson High School in Franklin, Ky., to the snarky, bored receptionist Janine Melnitz 14 years later. (Photo: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library/Everett Collection)

Kate McKinnon (2002/2016)

Kate McKinnon (Kathryn Berthold) departed from her senior year look at North Shore High School in Glen Head, N.Y., to take on the wacky and weird Jillian Holtzmann in the 2016 reboot. (Photo: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library/Columbia)

Kristen Wiig (1991/2016)

Kristen Wiig epitomized the ’90s in her senior year at Brighton High School in Rochester, N.Y., with her pearls and excessive hair volume. Luckily, she ditched the frizz for bangs as Erin Gilbert in Ghostbusters. (Photo: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library/Columbia)

Leslie Jones (1984/2016)

Leslie (Annette) Jones also did a 180 from her junior year at Lynwood High School in Lynwood, Calif., giving Patty Tolan an updated look. (Photo: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library/Columbia)

Melissa McCarthy (1988/2016)

While Kristen Wiig had the ’90s look, Melissa McCarthy sported a very ’80s haircut during her senior year at St. Francis Academy Joliet in Ill. Dumping the short hair for a bun and glasses, Abby Yates makes for a modern ghostbuster. (Photo: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library/Columbia)

Chris Hemsworth (2004/2016)

Chris Hemsworth may not have a yearbook photo, but this image of him playing a student in the Australian soap Home and Away circa 2004 is basically the same thing. Growing taller and bigger, Hemsworth plays the cute but dim-witted Kevin in Ghostbusters. (Photo: Australia Network/Columbia)

Slimer (1984/2016)

Our last member of the squad may be more of a nuisance than a team member, but he is nonetheless firmly associated with the Ghostbusters. Graduating from ’80s CGI to more glistening, truly “slimey” 21st century graphics, Slimer has aged beautifully along with the rest of the team. (Photo: Everett/Columbia)

[ymovies-staff-blog]

'Ghostbusters' Trailer

Release date: July 15, 2016

Director: Paul Feig

Starring: Melissa McCarthy Kristen Wiig Kate McKinnon Leslie Jones Chris Hemsworth Andy Garcia

[jenchaney]

New 'Ghostbusters' Team Reveals Their Strangest Jobs Ever on 'Ellen' — Like Scientology Telemarketer

The new Ghostbusters team — Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones — have gotten a two-month press junket jump start by appearing on Ellen. In an episode that airs today, the four stars of the upcoming “bustin’ makes me feel good” reboot spoke with host Ellen DeGeneres about some of their odder previous jobs, as well as co-star Chris Hemsworth’s hotness, and played an intense couple of rounds of Head’s Up. McKinnon — who regularly imitates DeGeneres and Hillary Clinton on Saturday Night Live — also did back-to-back impressions of both women, while standing in between them. (Clinton is a guest on the program today as well.)

Here are some of the things that were revealed during their appearance. (Note: none of these things reveals anything significant about Ghostbusters.)

1. Leslie Jones previously worked as a telemarketer for Scientology.

"They kinda still don’t know I’m not a Scientologist,” Jones says when DeGeneres asks about the pre-show-business gig. “Thanks for blowing my cover, Ellen.”

“I lived in Glendale, I needed to pay the rent, and it was a very easy interview,” she adds. “I just acted crazy.”

2. Kate McKinnon once had a job as a little league softball umpire.

“In retrospect, should have brushed up on the rules of softball before litigating them,” she says. “But I didn’t.”

3. The Ghostbusters confirm that Chris Hemsworth is smart, nice and a good improviser.

They confirm this while pictures of a shirtless Hemsworth appear on a screen behind them, prompting Jones to turn around and look at one point, then simply exclaim: “Damn!”

4. Ellen DeGeneres does not know the term for a conga line.

During the Head’s Up portion of the appearance, Wiig and McCarthy played the “guess the dance moves” version of the game, where a guesser (DeGeneres) has to shout out the names of the dances that the other two players (Wiig and McCarthy) are performing. At one point, Wiig and McCarthy clearly demonstrate what a conga line looks like, but somehow DeGeneres can’t guess what they are doing. 

“I don’t know what that is,” she says. “I don’t know the name of it.”

As a result of this moment, I have now lost all confidence in Dory’s ability to find her family. 

5. Like Amy Poehler before her, McKinnon has no problem impersonating Hillary Clinton while in her presence.

Same goes for DeGeneres. Another thing we learned: This part of the segment wasn’t pre-scripted at all.

Watch a trailer:

[gwynnew]

A Reminder That Women-Led Movies Aren't 'Risky' After the 'Ghostbusters' Near Miss

‘Ghostbusters’ (Columbia Pictures)

Has there ever been a more fun idea for a movie than Ocean’s Ocho? A breezy heist film in the tradition of Ocean’s Eleven, it’s set to star (so far) Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, and rapper-comedienne Awkwafina. Impossible to resist, right? Except all of a sudden, Ocean’s Ocho is being called “risky” by the Hollywood Reporter. Because of Ghostbusters.

See, Ghostbusters was a reboot of a beloved franchise, with the twist that the main cast was female instead of male. And Ghostbusters fell short of projected box office numbers. So now, Hollywood is reportedly panicking about any remake or movie spinoff involving women. “In the wake of Ghostbusters' lackluster performance … studios began reevaluating other all-female reboots,” THR reports in another article, headlined “All-Female ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ Spinoff Looking to Avoid ‘Ghostbusters’-Type Backlash.”

Never mind that Ghostbusters and Ocean’s Ocho have nothing else in common, other than the fact that they have women leads and are quasi-remakes (like every other studio tentpole). It goes to show that Hollywood still thinks of female protagonists as a gimmick, and a risky one at that, rather than the natural progression of a movie industry with a largely female audience. If not for that deeply ingrained idea, nobody would be panicking about Ghostbusters’ box office numbers — because “women can’t carry a blockbuster” is absolutely the wrong lesson to take from that film.

For one thing, reports of Ghostbusters’ death have been greatly exaggerated. It didn’t hit the numbers Sony projected, but it actually did pretty well for an ensemble comedy with only a few stars (Kristin Wiig, Chris Hemsworth, and the only person who can still single-handedly open a film, Melissa McCarthy). With a $181 million worldwide take (so far), the film has recouped its production costs and would be considered a modest hit … if it weren’t for the fact that it was really, really expensive. Thanks to its astronomical effects budget, Ghostbusters needed to clear $300 million worldwide for Sony to declare it a hit. And outside the U.S., the movie was always a dicey proposition: Comedies generally don’t do well overseas; the Ghostbusters movies aren’t an internationally beloved franchise, and the film couldn’t even open in the biggest foreign market, China (likely because of the nation’s ban on “supernatural themes” in films). While industry publications are estimating Sony’s loss at $50 million to $75 million, the profits from other revenue streams (including product placement, video games, home video releases, and those reportedly robust toy sales) could still make the franchise a viable property. And for the record, Sony hasn’t officially ruled out a sequel.

Basically, if the movie had been made with director Paul Feig’s usual budget of under $100 million, it would have been an unqualified success. (Ghostbusters had a bigger opening weekend than any of his previous films, including Bridesmaids.) Audiences turned out, even with the noxious online backlash, which weighed down a fun summer blockbuster with unnecessary baggage. But it’s no surprise that Hollywood is so quick to declare the female-led reboot a failed experiment. It has done this before.

You know how Wonder Woman (in theaters next year) will be the first female superhero movie since 2005? That’s because Hollywood execs convinced themselves that nobody likes female heroes. Last year, the Sony email leak uncovered a note from Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter to Sony CEO Michael Lynton making a case that female superhero films are box-office poison. Perlmutter’s examples were Catwoman and Elektra, released about a decade earlier, and Supergirl, released more than 30 years ago. All of these films were panned by critics, as were several notable superhero bombs starring men (Green Lantern, anybody?). Still, in the minds of the men who make these decisions, these particular movies failed because they starred women — and the studio heads stood firm in that belief, even as Hunger Games and Divergent proved that women in genre films could dominate the box office.

Just imagine the conversation reversed. Did anyone make a case that Batman v Superman got a lackluster reception because it starred two men? Or that last year’s Sony bomb Pixels torpedoed a beloved property with its all-male ensemble? If anything, in the past year, female protagonists have been a boon at the box office. Look at Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Finding Dory, Cinderella, Zootopia, Mad Max: Fury Road, or Pitch Perfect 2. Even the specialty box office does better with female-led films, such as these movies from the list of year’s top-10 indie films: The Witch, Love & Friendship, The Lady in the Van, and Hello, My Name Is Doris.

Hollywood has picked up on this to some extent, or the gender-reversed reboot wouldn’t have become a trend in the first place. But the Ghostbusters panic reveals just how tenuous the position of women remains. Thankfully, it appears that Warner Bros. is still confident about Ocean’s Ocho and isn’t bowing to pressure to anchor the all-star female ensemble with a leading man. Hopefully the other female-led reboots in the works (including Disney’s The Rocketeer, Fox’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, MGM’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Imagine Entertainment’s Splash) will also move forward and be judged on their own merits. Because the question of whether a movie with a female protagonist can succeed has already been answered, time and again.  

[nickschager-blog]

'Ghostbusters' Star Leslie Jones Talks Twitter Harassment on 'The Late Show'

After suffering a barrage of hateful, racist messages on Twitter thanks to her participation in Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot, star Leslie Jones seemingly quit the social-media site over the weekend, only to return to it yesterday. Last night, she explained to Seth Meyers that she never meant for people to take her departure as permanent. (Watch the clip above.)

Appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers, the Saturday Night Live comedian clarified what exactly went down three days ago, when the below tweet led fans to believe she was forever exiting Twitter thanks to the intolerant slander of myriad online bigots.

I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart.All this cause I did a movie.You can hate the movie but the shit I got today...wrong

— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg)

July 19, 2016

Jones said: “I did not leave Twitter. I didn’t leave. I just signed out, because I wanted to deal with what was going on. And then I went to bed, and I woke up the next morning, and I was like ‘They said I left Twitter! Wait! I didn’t leave!’”

As she told Meyers, what was really scary wasn’t that people didn’t like the new Ghostbusters — which tallied a middling $46 million at the box-office last weekend — or even her performance in it as Ghostbuster Pattie Tolan, but rather the sheer ugliness of the comments she received.

“What scared me was the injustice of a gang of people jumping against you for such a sick cause. I mean, it was like, everybody has an opinion, and it all comes at you at one time. And they really believe in what they believe in, and it’s so mean. Like, it’s so gross and mean, and unnecessary.””

By calling attention to these attacks, Jones helped motivate Twitter to ban numerous users, including Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos, whose savage review of the film was blamed for spearheading the anti-Jones charge. It was a necessary step, Jones said, because she loves Twitter, and had to let it be known (including to CEO Jack Dorsey) that it was being abused. “It’s like, that’s my favorite restaurant. I love the food there. Three people just got shot in front of me. Y’all need to get some security!”

Jones has since resumed Tweeting, including sending a big thank you to all of those who supported her, some of whose video messages of support were featured during her Late Show appearance.

Thanks for the love and support I received! made me feel real special See you later on @sethmeyers #LoveForLeslieJ pic.twitter.com/1SOU5QnhMQ

— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg)

July 21, 2016

For her part, Jones summed up the incident aptly: “Hate speech and freedom of speech — two different things.”

[ymovies-contributors-blog]

Aspiring Ghostbusters Can Now Own Their Very Own Slimer

Slimer chowing down in 1984 (Everett)

Ghostbusters mania is ramping up in advance of July 15, when Paul Feig’s all-female reboot — starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones — makes its proton pack-blasting premiere in theaters. And predictably, companies are looking to capitalize in whatever way they can…including by offering fans the opportunity to purchase a life-sized replica of the franchise’s most famous specter: Slimer.

See Slimer in the original movie:

The National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA) has just announced the arrival of a 3-feet tall Slimer made out of foam rubber and latex crafted from the original molds used in the 1984 Ghostbusters and hand-painted for authentic details. As the first images indicate, NECA’s Slimer will certainly look the part, replete with gigantic teeth, a large tongue, and considerable fat rolls marking his pea-green torso. Alas, early reports indicate that he won’t be able to pass through human bodies, leaving them covered in sticky lime-colored goo.

The life-sized Slimer replica (NECA)

While NECA’s web site doesn’t yet indicate any retail specifics, online store BigBadToyStore.com is listing pre-orders for the item at a whopping $599.99. That’s a considerable chunk of change to fork over for a doll that doesn’t move, scream, or raid your refrigerator and then dump its barely digested food onto your kitchen floor. At least prospective buyers will have time to save up some cash — it appears Slimer won’t be shipping until August.

And see Slimer’s return in the new trailer:

[kevinpolowy]

How the 'Ghostbusters' Team Landed All Those Cameos From the Original Cast Members

The new Ghostbusters team. (Photo: Columbia)

Warning: Major Ghostbusters spoilers below

One of the biggest decisions director Paul Feig made in crafting a new Ghostbusters movie — besides making it a female-driven affair, of course — was setting the film's action in an entirely new universe. The action-comedy — which opens today — takes place in a New York City that never knew the likes of Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Raymond Stantz, Dr. Egon Spengler, and Winston Zeddmore.

By extension, one of the biggest coups Feig and company pulled off was landing most of the original cast members for cameos in the reboot. Save for Rick Moranis, who has retired from acting, all the surviving major players from the 1984 film return in bit parts as new characters. There’s even an Easter-eggy appearance by the late, great Harold Ramis, who can be spotted as the bronze bust outside the office of Columbia University professor Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig). For good measure, there's also the return of iconic ghouls Marshmallow Man (this time in inflatable form) and Slimer (who finds love).

Related: Harold Ramis's Daughter to Fans: 'Stop Using My Dad as an Excuse to Hate’ New ‘Ghostbusters'

Katie Dippold, who penned the film's script with Feig and makes her own quick onscreen appearance as the heroines' real estate agent, broke down all the big-time cameos for us, including how a few of them evolved along the way.

The original Ghostbusters: Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis), Winston Zeddmore (Ernie Hudson), Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), and Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd). (Photo: Everett)

Bill Murray: In the biggest role among original cast members, the Internet MVP plays Martin Heiss, a misogynistic paranormal debunker and one of the chief antagonists to Gilbert, Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy), Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), and Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones). Murray's involvement seemed like the biggest question mark, given how famously reluctant he was to make a third Ghostbusters movie back in the day.

Dippold said they wanted Murray to play Heiss from the beginning, and it was simply a matter of sending him the script and waiting for an approval. Still, they didn't know for certain until the last moment if he would actually do it. "I couldn't completely enjoy [Murray's appearance on set] because for the past year, I had been wondering if Bill Murray would do a cameo in this movie, and I didn't know until a couple days before, for sure, if he was going to do it," she explained. "When he did show up, I was like, ‘I can't relax until the film is brought somewhere, like a safe.’ I was so scared something was going to stop this from happening. I was just kind of in frozen panic, just watching."

Dan Aykroyd: The Blues Brother — who’s also an exec producer on the reboot — was the only cast member whose cameo was revealed prior to the first screenings. In an NYC in-joke, he plays a cab driver who refuses to pick up Gilbert as all hell breaks loose on the city streets because she wants to go a block out of his way. Told of the paranormal activity raining down on New York, he drops the callback line, "I ain't afraid of no ghosts."

Feig and Dippold initially planned to have Aykroyd play a man named Rick Gale, who was a "spiritual adviser" to the women — or the polar opposite to Murray's crank. "But then we ended up cutting the scene because it was kind of slowing down the story," Dippold said. "Paul's thing was he didn't want it to feel like things were jammed in there, because it was already gonna feel like you're surprised by this cameo. So he tried as much as possible to put [them] in [roles] that were already in the script."

Once Aykroyd was set to play the cabbie, his sequence was tweaked. "Originally in the script, the taxicab won't pick her up, and then when he drives off without her, a ghost gets in the cab and kind of attacks him," Dippold explained. "But then we realized [that we didn't] want to see Dan Aykroyd attacked. That seemed terrible."

Sigourney Weaver as the possessed Dana Barrett in the original Ghostbusters. (Everett)

Sigourney Weaver: The Alien actress pops up in the film's end credits playing Rebecca Gorin, a similarly gonzo mentor-type to McKinnon's hilarious tech genius Holtzmann. "Sigourney was probably the one that was most written for someone," said Dippold. "And that one was the hardest one to figure out, because there's so many. God, I pitched on so many different versions of that cameo."

The ones that stick out most in Dippold's mind called for Weaver to be a mentally unstable woman they encountered on the streets of Manhattan. "When no one was believing [the Ghostbusters], as they're driving in the city, and this woman walks up, Sigourney Weaver, and she's just like, 'Hey, you know what? I don't care what anyone says. I think what you guys are doing is great, and I absolutely believe everything you're saying.' And then they're like, 'Oh my God, thank you so much.' And then there [were] a couple options. One is she just walks away and then just lies down on the ground like a crazy person. Another one was she says that same thing to someone else on the street. Because she's just a crazy person who just says this to everyone."

Related: 15 Things You Never Knew About the Original 'Ghostbusters'

Ernie Hudson: Patty (Leslie Jones) mentions on a couple of occasions that the hearse she's borrowed and that ultimately gets retrofitted into a new ECTO-1 came from the funeral home her uncle runs. In the film's closing (pre-credit) moments, it's revealed that Uncle Bill is none other than Ernie Hudson. "It was early, but when Leslie was cast, we just thought it'd be really fun if he was the uncle that she spoke of," Dippold said.

Annie Potts as receptionist Janine in the original Ghostbusters. (Everett)

Annie Potts: Her original role as the Ghostbusters' sassy receptionist Janine is appropriately gender-flipped and taken over by the surprising comedy standout Chris Hemsworth. Potts, meanwhile, gets to do some fan-service as a sassy hotel clerk who tips off the crime-fighting crew in their hunt for deranged bellboy Rowan North (Neil Casey).

"I feel like there was always some quick moment with someone at the front desk to point them in the right direction," Dippold said. "So then when it [became] her, we added her phone call with someone where it seemed she was just not having it."

Watch our interview with the ‘Ghostbusters’ cast:

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'Ghostbusters' No. 2 With $46M, Slimed By 'Secret Life of Pets'

By Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter

Spooked by The Secret Life of Pets, Sony's all-female Ghostbusters opened in the No. 2 spot at the North American box office with $46 million from 3,962 theaters, a lukewarm start considering the movie's sizeable budget.

Pets easily stayed No. 1 in its second weekend as it barked past the $200 million mark domestically, earning $50.6 million from 4,381 locations for a total of $203.2 million through Sunday. Overseas, the Illumination and Universal release has earned $50.8 million so far — it has only opened in nine markets — for an early global total of $254 million.

Another animated tentpole, Finding Dory, also continued to make headlines, becoming the top-grossing animated title of all time in North America with $445.5 million through Sunday (Shrek 2 was the previous champ with $244.2 million), not accounting for inflation. For the weekend, Dory placed No. 4 with $11 million, while overseas it earned another $36.5 million from 45 countries for a worldwide haul of $721.8 million for Pixar and Disney.

Related: The Making of a Comedy Classic: Director Ivan Reitman Spills the Secrets Behind the Original 'Ghostbusters'

Directed by Paul Feig, Ghostbusters hopes to relaunch the storied franchise, but the movie's early box-office performance doesn't make that a guarantee, although Sony executives are already promising further installments.

The film, with a net production budget of $144 million (tax rebates and incentives brought it down from $154 million), will need strong legs in the U.S. and be a big player overseas to land in the black for Sony and partner Village Roadshow Pictures.

For the better part of two years, Feig and Sony have come under constant attack from vocal opponents of the decision to make the leads all female. In classic 1984 movie, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Harold Ramis famously starred as the Ghostbusters. This time out, the ghoul chasers are played by McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones.

Not surprisingly, Ghostbusters skewed heavily female (57 percent) for an all-audience tentpole, while 63 percent of ticket buyers were over the age of 25. Overall, moviegoers gave the film a B+ CinemaScore, although younger consumers liked it more, with those under the age of 18 giving it an A-.

Ghostbusters marks the biggest domestic opening ever for Feig and McCarthy, his frequent collaborator, but it's also their first franchise tentpole. Their previous best was The Heat, which debuted to $39.1 million.

Related: Rick Moranis Reveals Why He Turned Down 'Ghostbusters' Reboot: "It Makes No Sense to Me"

The reboot, also featuring Chris Hemsworth and boasting a number of cameos by stars of the original series, including Murray, is once again set in Manhattan, where a ghost invasion forces a couple of paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and subway worker to band together to stop the threat. Ivan Reitman, who directed the 1984 movie, produced the update with former Sony studio chief Amy Pascal.

Heading into the weekend, Sony, trying to manage expectations, predicted a domestic debut of $38 million-$40 million. But others thought the film could cross $50 million, thanks to generally strong reviews (73 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and an aggressive marketing campaign. NRG, the industry's leading tracking service, even had it debuting to $54 million.

The weekend's only other new nationwide release was The Infiltrator, starring Bryan Cranston as a federal agent who infiltrates Pablo Escobar's drug cartel, although it had a relatively small footprint, or 1,601 theaters.

From Broad Green Pictures and directed by Brad Furman, the adult drama earned a better-than-expected $6.7 million over the course of its five-day debut (it opened Wednesday) after nabbing an A- CinemaScore. John Leguizamo, Diane Kruger, Benjamin Bratt, Yul Vazquez and Amy Ryan also star in the movie, which placed No. 8.

Related 'Ghostbusters': Film Review

There were a flurry of new offerings at the specialty box office, including Woody Allen's Cafe Society, which nabbed the top location average of the year for any film. The period romantic comedy, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, earned $361,000 from five theaters in New York and Los Angeles for a screen average of $71,000.

For Stewart, Cafe Society will no doubt lessen the sting of Equals, which bombed in its limited theatrical opening after debuting on DirecTV in late May. Starring Stewart opposite Nicholas Hoult, Drake Doremus' sci-fi love story earned $8,000-$9,000 from three theaters in New York and Canada. A24 partnered with DirecTV in acquiring rights to Equals.

Conservative filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza's Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party scored the top location average of the year for a political documentary in opening to $77,500 from three cinemas in Texas for an average $25,833.

Related: 'Suicide Squad' Debuts Character Videos for Joker, Harley Quinn and More

Watch a video about the all-time box-office champs: