Month: July 2016

Leave a comment Posted on movie reviews, Nostalgia, Uncategorized

Ghostbusters Reboot Movie: Chick Flick with No Audience? Men are Irrelevant?

Ghostbusters Reboot Movie: Chick Flick with No Audience? Men are Irrelevant?

For the upcoming Ghostbusters reboot out next Friday (July 15th), I’m curious to see if Sony’s marketing will be able to find an audience for the movie.

Here’s what I mean by that:

The Ghostbusters reboot, which is being nicknamed “Girlbusters” by us doubting Thomas’s, is apparently supposed to be a chick flick. I say that simply because I’ve seen the trailer at least half a dozen times (in hopes it would magically get better).

This the video I recently made on that subject:

The only male shown is Chris Hemsworth, whose character clearly has looks, but no brains. He doesn’t even know how to answer the phone, yet he is the only male character presented.

Meanwhile, the females are smart, heroic, and (apparently?) funny.

Take away the whole Ghostbusters façade of this movie and consider what is left…

This isn’t Ghostbusters. It’s an attempt at being a chick flick, as its director is Paul Feig; perhaps best known for directing the very successful R-rated chick flick, Bridesmaids, which features a female cast.

As I mentioned a few days ago in my post, Ghostbusters Reboot Movie Toys: Boys Aren’t Buying Them, I present a video I shot which demonstrates all the nearly all female cast of characters are actually located in the boys’ section of stories. In fact, no one is buying these toys: I show how the toys are already on 30% clearance though the movie isn’t even out yet.

Based on the trailer, it appears as if men are now irrelevant in the Ghostbusters universe.

And here’s the video I made on that issue:

It’s confusing, because as a non-Donald Trump supporter who is married with kids and who doesn’t live in his parents’ basement, I feel like Sony’s marketing team doesn’t feel I’m necessary as part of the equation of making this movie successful.

So if men are irrelevant, and if women are the target audience, yet the major lack of sale of toys indicated females are not interested in this movie, then who is the audience?

[Insert sound of crickets here.]

Ghostbusters Reboot Movie: Chick Flick with No Audience? Men are Irrelevant?

13 Comments Posted on movie reviews, toy reviews, Uncategorized

Ghostbusters Reboot Movie Toys: Boys Aren’t Buying Them?

Ghostbusters Reboot Actions Figures Already on 30% Clearance at Target, 2 Weeks before Movie’s Release

This week while perusing through Target during my lunch break, because apparently that’s what I do for fun, I discovered a curious thing:

The action figures for the upcoming Ghostbusters reboot movie are already on 30% clearance, even though the movie doesn’t come out for another 2 weeks, on July 15th.

(This took place at the Franklin, TN, location.)

It presents a theory about the free market:

Could it be that boys aren’t interested in buying action figures

in which females are the protagonists?

I invite you to watch the video I shot, on the scene, which clearly shows that the Ghostbusters reboot movie is clearly being marketed to boys, as these toys are in the same isle as Star Wars and Ninja Turtles, which primarily consist of male characters.

Even though the new Ninja Turtles movie has been out for a month already, none of those toys are on clearance, which implies boys are still asking their parents for them.

ghostbusters-2016-movie-cast

Obviously, there has been a lot of skepticism about the upcoming movie by Ghostbusters fans; especially to make the four Ghostbusters female; as opposed to male, which is the gender they been identified as since 1984.

Ghostbusters Reboot Actions Figures Already on 30% Clearance at Target, 2 Weeks before Movie’s Release

Sure, I admit: If they couldn’t get the original cast to do an actual sequel (especially since Harold Ramis passed away two years ago in 2014), I would have at least liked to have seen brand-new characters to carry on the torch, in the likeness of the original cast:

Maybe Paul Rudd, Steve Carrel, Seth Rogen, and Donald Glover. I think that would have been awesome to see!

Ghostbusters Reboot Actions Figures Already on 30% Clearance at Target, 2 Weeks before Movie’s Release

In that version of reality, I could imagine that much more action figures would have been sold and prevented this 30% clearance situation at Target. Not to mention, I think fans would be much more excited about going out and seeing the new movie.

Again, these toys are purposely placed in the boys’ aisle, not with Barbies. The Ghostbusters toys are clearly intended to be purchased mainly by boys, not girls; which is why they are stocked on the shelves the way they are.

Yet boys aren’t buying them.

This is the free market at work; in which politically correctness is evidently being ignored by very young consumers.

With all that being said, I will be seeing the Ghostbusters reboot movie in a few weeks and will be doing a movie review on it; comparing it to the original, from a family friendly perspective.

So if you if this post has entertained you, check back in a few weeks for more on the Ghostbusters reboot.