It's probably accurate to say that a lot of people had written-off 2016's female-led Ghostbusters reboot long before it was released, but, unfair prejudgements aside, the movie did little to silence its doubters when it did arrive in theaters and turned out to be... well, not great!
While it was far from the disaster it's often portrayed as and does have some funny/memorable moments, the decision to completely ignore the events of the original movies didn't go over well with fans - something Jason Reitman sought to rectify with his direct follow-up, 2021's Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
While promoting the film on Bill Burr’s Monday Morning Podcast, Reitman said that he was “trying to go back to the original technique and hand the movie back to the fans," adding: “I’m not making the Juno of Ghostbusters movies. This is gonna be a love letter to Ghostbusters. I want to make a movie for my fellow Ghostbusters fans.”
Though Reitman would later clarify his comments (see below), Ghostbusters 2016 star Leslie Jones feels the "damage was done" at that point, and has called the filmmaker out in her new autobiography, "Leslie F*cking Jones."
“Bringing up the idea of giving the movie ‘back to the fans’ was a pretty clear shout-out to all those losers who went after us for making an all-female [movie]," wrote the SNL alum.
Jones and her cast mates were the victim of some pretty heinous comments, but, as the only Black woman on the team, Leslie bore the brunt of the backlash.
"Why are people being so evil to each other? How can you sit and type 'I want to kill you.' Who does that?" she wrote. "Sad keyboard warriors living in their mother's basements hated the fact that this hallowed work of perfect art now featured — gasp! horror! — women in the lead roles. Worst of all, of course, was that one of the lead characters was a Black woman. For some men this was the final straw."
While it is true that a certain vocal minority took issue with the reboot from the beginning, it's also true that a lot of Ghostbusters fans - male and female - simply didn't think very much of the movie!
Reitman is currently working (as a producer) on an untitled Afterlife sequel, which will be directed by Gil Kenan.