Ernie Hudson looks back on 2016 Ghost busters reboot and why he thinks it hasn’t connected with longtime fans of the franchise.
The actor, 78, was part of the original Ghost busters cast, starting with the 1984 original and returning in 2021 Ghostbusters: Afterlife and the latest, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empirealong with fellow OGs Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd.
Speaking to The Independent, Hudson shared his thoughts on the 2016 film, which was supposed to reboot the iconic series at the time but underperformed at the box office. That film, directed by Paul Feig (bridesmaids), starring Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones.
“Look, I’m a fan of Paul Feig so I don’t have anything negative to say about him. Except: I don’t really understand why you’re doing a reboot, you know what I mean? Just make another movie,” he said. .
“The fans were really into the story and the characters, and I think it was disappointing,” added Hudson, who had a cameo in the 2016 film, adding, “I enjoyed the movie, but I don’t think that’s what the fans are were hopeful.”
He also said Wiig, McCarthy, McKinnon and Jones were “brilliantly funny in their own right.”
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Ernie Hudson and Bill Murray in Ghostbusters: Frozen (2024).
Jaap Buitendijk/Courtesy of Sony Pictures
Original Ghost busters Stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson join Paul Rudd in the Frozen Empire Premiere
Back in 2021, Hudson told Living Life Fearless that while he “likes” female-led film Ghost busters movie “a lot,” they tried to make “another version of what we’ve already done” and “I think it was a mistake.”
“It wasn’t a sequel or an extension. It was kind of a different universe there. You know what I mean? It’s like us, but it’s us, but not us. In that universe, they’re women. No I don’t know. That was choice,” he said then. “… It felt like a retelling of the same story, which automatically causes comparisons that you really don’t need to make.”
Even before the film debuted in theaters in 2016, it became the subject of sexist attacks online. In her 2023 memoir, Jones, 56, recalled the racist and sexist messages she received about herself online Ghost busters role, saying she “went through the ringer” during that time.
Back in October 2015, Wiig (50) told Los Angeles Times that the reaction surrounding the film’s announcement itself was “surprising” for her: “Some people said some really not nice things about the fact that there were women. It didn’t make me angry, it just really annoyed me. I really respect those movies.”
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Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon in “Ghostbusters” (2016). Columbia Pictures/Courtesy of the Everett Collection held by Sherri Shepherd Ghost busters Ernie Hudson star signs chest on TV: ‘I’ve been waiting to ask for years’
McCarthy, 53, in September 2021, reflected on their reaction Ghost busters faced by its release.
“There’s no end to the stories we can tell, and there are so many reboots and reboots and different interpretations, and to say that any one of them is wrong, I just don’t get it,” McCarthy told Yahoo! Fun.
“I’m not looking for a fight to see who can be the most negative and hateful. Everyone should be able to tell the story they want to tell. If you don’t want to see it, don’t have to see it.”
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire it’s in theaters now.
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Source: HIS Education