Director Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters is a “hard reboot” (read: complete fresh start) for the 1980s-born supernatural horror/comedy franchise, though you would be forgiven for thinking it’s a “soft reboot” or semi-sequel (a la such recent movies as Jurassic World and Creed) to the previous Ghostbusters films. Marketing for the new Ghostbusters hasn’t been clear on this point, having banked too heavily on callbacks to previous installments in the series - including, Ray Parker Jr.’s beloved “Ghostbusters” theme song from the original 1984 film, as well as appearances from the famous specters in Ghostbusters movies past (see: green gooey ghost Slimer).
However, similar to how many felt the first Ghostbusters international trailer was better overall than its U.S. counterpart, the newly-released second international preview likewise (arguably) does a better job than the second U.S. trailer, when it comes to selling Feig’s movie. You can watch that new Ghostbusters international trailer, above.
The newest Ghostbusters trailer overall does a better job than the U.S. version of highlighting what appear to be the reboot’s strongest elements; namely, the comedic screen chemistry amongst the film’s four stars (Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon) as well as costar Chris Hemsworth, in addition to the vibrant CGI effects and generally shiny visual aesthetic. Furthermore, this Ghostbusters preview avoids revealing too many details about the screen story that was penned by Feig and screenwriter Katie Dippold (The Heat), again unlike its U.S. counterpart.
Feig recently spoke about the difficulties that come with marketing his films in general:
This matter has only been compounded by the fact that Feig’s Ghostbusters has faced a good deal of opposition online from its very inception. This, in turn, has made it difficult to assess exactly how much of this anger directed towards the reboot is the result of sexist responses to the movie’s casting of four female leads, Sony’s marketing strategy, the very existence of a Ghostbusters franchise reboot - or all three of those factors at once. However, if Feig’s track record of making comedies that turn out far better than their trailers would have you believe (see, for example, the marketing for Spy) is anything to go by, the new Ghostbusters may yet prove its detractors wrong.
“My movies, for some reason, are really hard to do trailers for, because my comedy all comes from context, really. I’m not the guy who’s like joke-joke-joke, and here’s a one-liner one-liner one-liner. I do have those, but you have to get to know the characters, you have to settle in with them to get to know their personalities, saying, ‘Oh, that’s funny because that character doesn’t normally do this.’"
Rounding out the Ghostbusters cast are such names as Michael Kenneth Williams (Boardwalk Empire), Andy Garcia (Kill the Messenger), and Cecily Strong (Saturday Night Live), in addition to a number of actors from the previous Ghostbusters films in cameo appearances.
Ghostbusters opens in U.S. theaters on July 15th, 2016.
Source: Sony/Columbia
