Dan Aykroyd Attacks Paul Feig, Blames Director For ‘Ghostbusters’ Reboot Failure

When the long touted Ghostbusters remake was finally released last year, it failed to make as big of an impact as diehard fans of first two films had hoped. It has been suggested that this was due to a mixture of reasons, ranging from misogynist trolls that attacked the mere creation of the film long before it was actually released to middling reviews when it did finally hit cinemas.

But Dan Aykroyd, the man who co-wrote the original 1984 Ghostbusters film alongside Harold Ramis and then starred in it as Ray Stantz, has figured out who was primarily to blame for the remake’s poor performance at the blockbuster. According to Dan Aykroyd, the reason why Ghostbusters didn’t succeed at the box office was because director Paul Feig spent too much on its production, meaning that it was impossible for the film to recoup its production costs.

“[Ghostbusters] made a lot of money around the world but just cost too much, making it economically not feasible to do another one. So that’s too bad. The director, he spent too much on it.”

Dan Aykroyd made these comments during his appearance on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, where he was interviewed by hosts Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer.

But Dan Aykroyd’s harsh comments towards Paul Feig didn’t stop there, though. He then went into further details about how Paul Feig apparently bungled the production, as he insisted that Feig didn’t shoot scenes that Dan Aykroyd had suggested, only to then realize that they were in fact required, which meant adding an extra $30-$40 million to the film’s budget in reshoots.

“He didn’t shoot scenes we suggested to him and several scenes that were going to be needed and he said, ‘Nah, we don’t need them.’ Then we tested the movie and they needed them and he had to go back. About $30 to $40-million in reshoots.”

According to Dan Aykroyd, there’s still plenty of animosity between Paul Feig and Sony because of Ghostbusters‘ failure, so much so that the Bridesmaids and Spy director has been shunned by the studio.

“So he will not be back on the Sony lot any time soon.”

While Dan Aykroyd had harsh words for Paul Feig and his directorial efforts on Ghostbusters, he did find time to praise the cast, singling out Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones, and hailing their comedic talents at the start of the interview. Plus, Dan Aykroyd was adamant that he was “really happy with the movie,” which then led to him going into specifics about why it was ultimately too costly.

Ghostbusters ultimately went on to bring in $229.1 million at the box office when it was released in July 2016. But while its budget was nearly $100 million less than that, at $144 million, the fact that Sony Pictures spent an inordinate amount on marketing the film meant that it needed to make at least $300 million just to break even. This was something that Paul Feig himself admitted before the film was released as he told Vulture, “A movie like this has to at least get to like $500 million worldwide, and that’s probably low.”

But while Dan Aykroyd believes that Ghostbusters‘ huge production costs were ultimately to blame for its financial failure, it has long been suggested that there were a number of other reasons, too. This included the initial response from some sections of the internet to Paul Feig casting four females in the leading roles, rather than simply having Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson reprise their roles, while it also didn’t help that when footage for the film was finally released, its trailer was roundly derided by both fans and critics.

[Featured Image by Sony]