Quote:Confronted by tepid box office for the reboot, the studio will instead focus on animated spinoffs.
Immediately upon the opening of Ghostbusters in mid-July, top Sony executives boldly declared a sequel to Paul Feig's all-female reboot of Ivan Reitman's 1984 classic was a given. "While nothing has been officially announced yet, there's no doubt in my mind it will happen," said Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution at Sony.
That was the studio's last public mention of a sequel. As of Aug. 7, Ghostbusters had earned just under $180 million at the global box office, including $117 million domestic. The film still hasn't opened in a few markets, including France, Japan and Mexico, but box-office experts say it will have trouble getting to $225 million despite a hefty net production budget of $144 million plus a big marketing spend. The studio has said break-even would be $300 million.
Sony hardly is alone in suffering from audience rejection of sequels this summer. But film chief Tom Rothman and his team, along with partner Village Roadshow, had high hopes for launching a live-action Ghostbusters "universe." Now they are preparing for steep losses (think $70 million-plus) and an uncertain future for the franchise.
Sony won't comment on whether it has banished a sequel to the netherworld, but perhaps tellingly, a rep says the studio actively is pursuing an animated Ghostbusters feature that could hit theaters in 2019 and an animated TV series, Ghostbusters: Ecto Force, which is eyeing an early 2018 bow. Both are being guided by Reitman, who firmly is back in charge of the Ghostbusters empire via Ghost Corps., a subsidiary with a mandate to expand the brand across platforms. (It was former Sony film chief Amy Pascal who first embraced Feig's vision for the live-action reboot, not Reitman or Rothman.)
"We're very proud of the bold movie Paul Feig made, which critics and audiences loved," a studio rep tells THR. "It has enlivened a 30-year-old brand and put it into the modern zeitgeist. As a result, we have many ideas in the works to further exploit the Ghostbusters universe."
Feig hasn't said whether he'll return. Stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon are said to be signed for two potential sequels, and initially they said they were game. But now? "Ghostbusters is on ice until further notice," says box-office analyst Jeff Bock. "I just can't fathom the creative talents behind it — Feig, McCarthy, Wiig, etc. — slogging out another one when the reception to the first one was so mediocre."
Sony disputes the amount of the potential loss, insisting that revenue streams from merchandising and such attractions as a new Ghostbusters exhibit at Madame Tussauds and a theme park ride in Dubai will help defray any deficit. The studio also notes that the number of people renting the 1984 film has soared over the summer.
"This loss calculation is way off," says the Sony rep. "With multiple revenue streams, including consumer products, gaming, location-based entertainment, continued international rollout, and huge third-party promotional partnerships that mitigated costs, the bottom line, even before co-financing, is not remotely close to that number."
Good so these phaggot Hollywood execs will just have to decide what they love more, trying to push SJW ideology or making money. One great leap for frumpy fat feminists, at the mere cost of 100 million dollars.
Its actually far worse than that. The way it works with movies of that size is: They are supposed to carry the riskier projects. Studio's can take more risk and actually invest in cool projects if they have a couple of mega blockbusters that do well. Sony's goals for this year and next year were most likely based on a blockbuster's franchise which would increase in cost for every sequel but irrelevant since it would bring in a large chunk of their revenue.
This will most likely pressure then to do a deal with Daniel Craig for next bond or get a new Bond very quickly. They will also probably launch another wave of Christian themed films which should be enough to crack the 6th spot in studio revenue.
Its actually far worse than that. The way it works with movies of that size is: They are supposed to carry the riskier projects. Studio's can take more risk and actually invest in cool projects if they have a couple of mega blockbusters that do well. Sony's goals for this year and next year were most likely based on a blockbuster's franchise which would increase in cost for every sequel but irrelevant since it would bring in a large chunk of their revenue.
This will most likely pressure then to do a deal with Daniel Craig for next bond or get a new Bond very quickly. They will also probably launch another wave of Christian themed films which should be enough to crack the 6th spot in studio revenue.
I have noticed a lot of these on netflix/amazon prime. While I think they are great as a christian, they also are just another symptom of the death of the movie industry. Christian entertainment is always old school and clings to 1-2 generations old media formats. For example, the very conservative people at my church only watch the re-runs from the 1960s channel, DVDs are still big sellers at the christian bookstore etc. If your big market is people in a time warp, you are in trouble.
(08-10-2016 11:21 AM)8ball Wrote: This will most likely pressure then to do a deal with Daniel Craig for next bond or get a new Bond very quickly. They will also probably launch another wave of Christian themed films which should be enough to crack the 6th spot in studio revenue.
Sony is probably my least favorite studio these days when it comes to releases. Everything they touch seems to turn into shit. They were talking about SJW'fying James Bond too. So we'll see if they go that route as well.
Daniel Craig will be very hard to replace I think.
Suicide Squad has earned more in the U.S. alone in ~10 days ($192,454,728 / $383,954,728 total).
Than GB'16 has earned from the entire globe in 29 days ($182,849,002).
Plus, it's not as if SS is short of prominent female characters.
People like Cuck Rogen, Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Kevin James and Amy Schumer, celebrity actors, are all reflections of those who consume their content?
People live vicariously through these people; fat, average-looking people becoming movie stars so other fat, average (or below) looking people will spend money to see them - living and relating to the lives of other losers (because sitting on your ass for 2 hours while eating & drinking excess carbs and sugar isn't healthy).
Those names I mentioned are all mainly comedy actors. If you're not attractive I guess it helps to be funny, but I can't help but see how their lives are reflected in their humour as well as in their fans - one big joke.
Not a new concept by any means, but it's interesting to see something like Suicide Squad do so well at getting all types of people to buy-in, while Ghostbusters alienated it's original fan base and half of the population.
I was too curious - some hardcore ones taking it in the shitter. Not a pretty sight, but not as bad as it could have been. WNB - better put - CNB - could not bang even if my life depended on it.