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Ghostbusters 2016 Reboot Trailer & Hidden Website Found!!!

 By Paul Rudoff on Mar. 3, 2016 at 10:53 AM , Categories: Reviews & Merch, The 2016 Parody Remake
Ghostbusters 2016 Trailer (3/3/2016)

View on YouTube (with MPAA green band) / Download (1280x720)

The trailer for the new 2016 Ghostbusters reboot movie came out today. It's embedded above, so feel free to watch it before reading on. I'm going to share my thoughts on the trailer in a sort-of running commentary form, though I won't go over every single shot. The trailer starts with the logos for Sony, Columbia, and Village Roadshow Pictures. The latter was weird to see since they had no involvement with the original films, and I always associate them with The Matrix films from Warner Brothers. Then it gets a little weird. Although this new movie is, as far as I know, set in a different continuity than the original two films, it starts by referencing the characters from those films in a way to imply that it follows them.

30 Years Ago, Four Scientists Saved New York.
This Summer, A New Team Will Answer The Call.

Wait, WHAT?!? "Four Scientists"??? Did I miss the scene where Winston became a scientist? He was never a man of science. He was the "everyman" of the group. What makes this whole intro weirder is that the shots of New York are modern, and not footage from the first film. The Freedom Tower we see in the skyline did not exist 30 years ago. At least we get one quick exterior shot of the New York firehouse - and with the original doors, no less! Anyway, this whole intro trying to connect to the original film should have been left out. Moving on...

While this "previously on" intro is shown, a slow, haunting piano version of the Ghostbusters theme song is played. It's a nice little piece, and I hope that it's on the soundtrack album, but this trick was done last year with the Jurassic World trailer.

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We get our first official look at the new in-movie logo, though if you followed all of the fan-recorded behind-the-scenes stuff, you will have seen it before. It's very rough and I think that works better in-movie than the polished logo we all know and love. And then things start to go downhill...

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Our first look at the new team is, apparently, their first look at a ghost. In a scene that's very reminiscent of the guys first encounter with a ghost in the library stacks, Jillian (Kate McKinnon), Abby (Melissa McCarthy), and Erin (Kristen Wiig) see a rather lovely female ghost in someone's private library. As expected, the sexy specter turns ugly and...had that been it, all would be great. A nice nod to the original. But then the ghost pukes slime onto Erin. Yes, the franchise has degenerated into vomit jokes. What is this, The Garbage Pail Kids Movie?

In the ensuing scene, Erin tells her pals that the slime "went everywhere; in every crack". That type of humor seems really out of place for Ghostbusters.

You can blame director Paul Feig for this. Most of the comedy bits seen in this trailer are too broad (and immature) for Ghostbusters. Ghostbusters was NEVER a broad comedy. Hell, it's not really a comedy at all once you pull out Venkman's quips. It falls more under the realms of horror and sci-fi, but most people don't seem to realize that. It seems that this new movie was written for 10-year-olds.

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A smile came across my face as the gals are, at one point, stationed in a very familiar place. Astute observers will notice that this is not the real Los Angeles firehouse interior. From what I know, that place is boarded-off and no longer available to be used for much of anything anymore. So, they made a new set that is based on it, but not a 100% reproduction.

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Another nod to the original films as subway worker Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) sees a blue ghostly mass in an empty train tunnel, ala Winston in Ghostbusters II with the spectral locomotive. We see our first "Shocked Patty" facial expression. Get used to Leslie mugging for the camera, because we'll see it at least a half-dozen more times in just this short trailer alone. I'll discuss it more later. It makes me wonder just how much of it is in the full-length movie.

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The characters are introduced, and first up is Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon). Being the designer of the team's equipment, we get some sexy shots of the Proton Pack and what appears to be some kind of ghost trap. The ghosts and the equipment are what I enjoyed most from this trailer, and likely what I will like the most in the final film.

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Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) is up next, and I'm not really buying her as a Quantum Physicist. More important than Erin is what she wrote on the whiteboard in her classroom. Right there at the top of the equation is the website url ParanormalStudiesLab.com. Going to it brings up the "official website" for the Kenneth P. Higgins Institute of Science Paranormal Studies Lab, the fictional lab in the film where the ladies work.

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The website includes blueprints and schematics for all of the new equipment, along with our first behind the scenes featurette for the new movie, Busting Ghosts With Science. The video is embedded below, and the website images can be downloaded via the urls noted below. The full set of framegrabs I did from the video can be found on the Ghostbusters Wiki, where I am also an admin.

http://www.paranormalstudieslab.com/images/equipment-1.jpg
http://www.paranormalstudieslab.com/images/equipment-2.jpg
http://www.paranormalstudieslab.com/images/equipment-3.jpg
http://www.paranormalstudieslab.com/images/equipment-4.jpg
http://www.paranormalstudieslab.com/images/equipment-5.jpg
http://www.paranormalstudieslab.com/images/schematics-1.jpg
http://www.paranormalstudieslab.com/images/schematics-3.jpg
http://www.paranormalstudieslab.com/images/schematics-4.jpg

Equipment #5, an opened PKE Meter, seems to be hidden as I didn't see it on the site (just the closed PKE Meter). Anyway, this is a very cool little Easter egg. I wonder if it will appear in the final film, or if it's just for the trailer.

Busting Ghosts With Science

View on YouTube / Download (1280x720)

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Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) gets a line, and a nod to Louis' colander hat from the first film, and not much else. Doesn't bother me as she's not a very exciting character.

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And then there was Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones). As I watched all of Patty's bits in the trailer, it became quite obvious that the character is an outdated racist stereotype. Apparently, in 30 years, we haven't moved past the "three college-educated white characters and one from-the-streets black character" set-up. It worked in the original film not just because of the ernest way Ernie Hudson portrayed Winston - he never played him as a stereotype - but also because he was given more to do than just scream and mug for the camera with "shocked" expressions. It's the latter that reminded me of something Ernie said to Jet magazine back in 1984 about why he almost turned down the role of Winston Zeddemore: "I kept having visions of those old actors like Mantan Moreland, Eddie (Rochester) Anderson and Stepin' Fetchit, shaking and rolling their eyes and stuttering in scenes involving supernatural creatures." While Patty isn't exactly cowering in fear like her cinematic forefathers, this trailer seems to indicate that she spends a lot of her time being very loud, screaming, and with a big shocked expression on her face; which seems like it hits a bunch of black stereotypes to me.

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Patty provides the team with a car she borrowed from her Uncle.

- Abby: You didn't disclose that the vehicle was gonna be a hearse?
- Patty: It's a Cadillac!

Okay, I'll admit, I did get a chuckle out of that line. That's the type of humor I hope permeates this film, and not the broad, juvenile humor that permeates this trailer.

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Lots of beauty shots of the vehicle follow, and I'm starting to like the car, even with it's hideous 1980's boxy design and that huge yellow zit on it's roof. Someone get it some Clearasil, stat! From here on out, the trailer ramps up and bombards us with lots and LOTS of action shots. It's about damn time.

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Yes, it's true, Slimer is back! He looks just like his original 1984 counterpart, which was a huge relief for me. I was afraid that they were going to totally redesign him. He's seen here amongst some hot dog carts, which is yet another nod to the original film.

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Apparently, a huge battle will take place in Times Square, and that's perfectly fine with me. We get another nod with the "That's a Big Twinkie" billboard on the left. This shot tells me that the ghosts have the ability to shift time, as 2016 Times Square turns into 1970s Times Square. I'm very keen on that concept. I'm not so keen on the obvious green-screen (surely Sony could afford to have the gals actually film live in Times Square) and the bombardment of Sony ads in the scene. I spotted Blu-ray Disc (co-created by Sony), Crackle, Sony HD TV, plus three films owned by Sony/Columbia Pictures - Taxi Driver (1976), Snake People (1971), and Tommy (1975) (could be referencing the Broadway musical).

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Jillian gets a joke here that I saw coming a mile away because I've seen it countless times before. You know, the whole "live person has their head on a shelf of heads" gag. It was done back in the 1960s on Scooby-Doo, I'm sure, and plenty of other times before and since. I guess original gags aren't Paul Feig's strong suit. Yawn!

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A few more really cool ghosts are seen, including what looks like an Uncle Sam stilt-walker. Have I already said how much I'm loving the ghosts and not the live people? You know, the people we're supposed to care about?

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A montage of the ladies fighting ghosts follows, and it gives us a chance to see some of the cool new equipment. Jillian has some proton pistols that are stored in the base of her pack, one of which she licks suggestively. The irony of Kate licking a phallic-shaped object doesn't escape me.

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Erin has a more traditional-looking wand coming from her pack.

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Abby has, what appears to be, gloves that she punches ghosts with.

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Then everyone fires their streams. That sounded dirty :-)

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Had the trailer ended here, everything would be fine, but someone got the bright idea to spoil a huge plot point and essentially give away a whole scene. It's at this point that the trailer tells everyone that the Ghostbusters' secretary, Kevin NoLastName (Chris Hemsworth), gets possessed by a ghost...

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...as does Abby, seen here with slime coming out of every orifice. Actually, I don't know if it's every orifice. I'll leave that to the inevitable all-girl porn version of this movie to explore. Still, snot jokes are funny...if you're seven-years-old!

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Possessed Abby tries to throw Jillian out of the headquarters window. Yeah, the headquarters is above a Chinese restaurant. Yeah, it was filmed in Boston, Massachusetts. Yeah, the Municipal Building seen in the upper left corner of the shot was added in digitally. She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah...

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Abby spins her head 180-degrees, which makes her heads-backwards. I really wanted to say she was ass-backwards, but only President Skroob and hopefully-never-President Trump are ass-backwards. See what I was saying before about Patty making a lot of those black-stereotyped shocked expressions. You would have grown really tired of them if I included every single one from the trailer.

To get the spirit out of Abby, Patty slaps her across the face several times while screaming at the top of her lungs, "The power of Patty compels you!" Yes, it's that tired, old The Exorcist (1973) reference. This is truly the most groan-inducing part of the whole trailer. For the love of all that is good and Holy, please Paul Feig, leave that part on the cutting room floor. There's still time for an edit or a reshoot, if necessary to remove it.

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And with that, the trailer is over.

What can I say that I haven't said already. The CGI is good, but looks a little too clean. The movie looks more like the live-action Scooby-Doo movies than Ghostbusters. No hatred towards Scooby - though they can never get the casting of Fred and Daphne right, even in the porn version! - just making an observation about the look. I really think the film would have been better served with practical effects. Surely, Steve Johnson would be up for it...and sorry for calling you Shirley.

The humor shown here would be acceptable by little kids, but it's not for the adults who grew up on the original films. I'd go so far as to say that it seems like more effort was spent on the equipment and ghosts (there are infinitely more ghosts than in both of the original films combined!) than on getting the humor and casting right. While there are things that I like (have I mentioned the ghosts and the equipment enough times already?), this trailer pretty much reaffirms my feelings that this is not the right director or actors for this movie. Maybe it'll play out better in the full-length film. I would love to see a better film come out of this one.

Maybe there will be another trailer to win over the haters and get the others more excited because I don't think this one is gonna do it. I actually think this is gonna give the haters more ammunition. PS: If you want the full set of framegrabs I did from the trailer, you can find my original images on the Ghostbusters Wiki, where I am also an admin.

[UPDATE - 3/9/2016]
The International Trailer has been released (embedded below). I'll say a few words on it after the video, but I'm not going to dissect/analyze it like I did the U.S. trailer. It's also available on the Sony Pictures Releasing UK YouTube page, but Sony UK prohibits views from outside the US, so use the embed and links below. Also, Matt Jordan (who alterted me to this new trailer), has done a bunch of framegrabs, which you can find on Facebook and the Ghostbusters Wiki.

Ghostbusters 2016 International Trailer (3/9/2016)

View on YouTube (alt 1, alt 2) / Download (1280x720)

It's a vast improvement over the U.S. trailer discussed above, but still has some stupidity that I pray will be left on the cutting room floor. Again, it's stuff that involves the Patty Tolan character played by Leslie Jones, such as her failed stage dive joke. She instantly blamed no one wanted to carry her on her race or gender, but did she ever think that maybe it's because she's heavy and obnoxious? I get the feeling that the stage dive is a pointless and unnecessary joke anyway. When I see it in the proper context, I'll know for sure, but so far my gut feeling has been right on a lot of things.

A subtitle, but important, change from the US trailer is the reference to the originals at the beginning. U.S. incorrectly called them "four scientists [who] saved New York", while International changes it to "four friends [who] saved the world". It was strange hearing Chris Hemsworth with his Australian accent. I don't think I've ever seen any movies where he uses it. I'm pretty sure he has a rather "neutral" voice in the Thor movies, and I remember him being an American in The Cabin in the Woods (highly recommended, even though they should have kept the "corporate" stuff as a twist). I also liked the final joke. I wonder if they realized that they unintentionally referenced some real porn parody logos?

Finally, I found a possible new hidden official website, but it's not there yet. When Patty attempts to stage dive, in the background is a large grey poster advertising the "Rock Revenge Fest" event. If you look *very* carefully at the bottom of it, you can see the url http://www.rockrevengefest.com - which currently redirects to http://www.sonypictures.com

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I suspect that Sony will put up another official "hidden" subsite closer to the movie's release. I doubt that they would have registered the domain name and put it on an in-movie poster if they weren't going to do *something* with it. Maybe it'll be a viral site to promote the soundtrack album. Keep an eye on it in the next few months. (Interestingly, the domain name was registered on July 15, 2015 and expires on the movie's release date, July 15, 2016. Sony would be really stupid if they let it expire on that date without doing a damn thing with it!)

And that's all I have to say about that!

5 comments

Comment from: Raffaele Ruffaldi [Visitor]  

I enjoyed the call back to the original movie , although it does not make much sesne. The shot of the firehouse at night is graet. I also enjoyed the music, both the piano & the remix of the GB song them.

As for the rest…
Ghosts looks to clean and shiny.
The SFX are to slick. Slimer Design is good but looks too much “solid” to me , I prefered the unfocused look of the orginal one. Still way better than the version in GB2.

The library Ghost scene seems way off. The mood is wrong (the original scene is dark & more spooky and seems happening in a old time), which seems the main problem of the movie, visually speaking.

Humor is bad. I agree it is too bland. The puke and subsequent remark is out of place, it is not witty and subtile as I was hoping for.

I find the props to be awful , the car’s ugly, the equipment is cheap. Punching Ghosts, really?
GB has never been about an anti ghost commando, they play it with the wrong attitude.

And the black gal is awful. She shout too much. Everytime I see the trailer I skip the last part with her and the possesor ghost. ( Another bad exemple of humor by the way).

Of all the characters Jillian seems the most interesting , but it seems they went for freaky. Egon, whom she references, is never freaky , only odd. The gun licking is out of place.

The action sequence though seemed cool and I did not notice that Time Square went back in time. That’s a nice detail and might lead to something interesting.

That’s not much overall though.

Mar. 4, 2016 @ 06:56
Comment from: Raffaele Ruffaldi [Visitor]  

As a side note, I do not agree when you say Venkmans is the only element that brings comedy to the Original movie.

The situation and how the characters respond to it creates comedy.

Venkman is the origin of many one-liners, but the comedy in ghostbusters goes beyond that.

Mar. 4, 2016 @ 07:00
Comment from: Uncle Horace [Visitor]

I kinda like that the tone is different from the original movies, but a lot of the jokes didn’t work for me. The way the trailer opens with references to original movie bothers me. Misleading and unnecessary.

Mar. 5, 2016 @ 11:29
Comment from: [Member]

Good point, Raffaele, about the humor in the original film also coming from the ordinary guys being in extraordinary situations. I didn’t think of it like that as I was writing this post because the one-liners usually stick out to me as the funny stuff :-) - Paul

Mar. 5, 2016 @ 13:03
Comment from: J Montgomery [Visitor]

The director’s laughable comments about the “misogynistic backlash” of the trailer for the new GB I am sure is more hilarious than this idiotic remake ever will be. My wife saw it first and has been groaning ever since! (so there) The director is substandard at best and OMG do we really have to endure yet another Melissa McCarthy suckfest?! This woman has almost achieved in 6 years what took Adam Sandler over a decade to do. If she is in it….it will blow! I am not even going to complain or gripe about it. I will just not see it in the theater or video. Between the lousy trailer, the bad cast and the hack director I see no reason to even get upset. It will come and go and be a footnote while the original will endure forever! :)

May. 20, 2016 @ 18:40

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