Dan Aykroyd Blasts ‘Ghostbusters’ Director Paul Feig: “He Will Not Be Back on the Sony Lot Anytime Soon”
The star of the original movie said Feig, who helmed the 2016 reboot, spent too much, making a sequel economically unfeasible.
Taking aim at director Paul Feig, Dan Aykroyd said Sunday that there will be no sequel to last year’s Ghostbusters reboot because Feig spent too much money shooting the film and that “he will not be back on the Sony lot anytime soon.”
Appearing on the morning talk show Sunday Brunch on Britain’s Channel 4, Aykroyd, who co-wrote and starred in the original 1984 Ghostbusters and is credited as an executive producer on the remake, didn’t mention Feig by name, but said, “The director, he spent too much on it and he didn’t shoot scenes we suggested to him. Several scenes that were going to be needed, he said, ‘No, we don’t need them.’ And then we tested the movie and they needed them, and he had to go back — about $30 to $40 million in reshoots.”
However, one source close to the production countered Aykroyd’s claims, saying, “the studio had an incredible relationship with the director, who was first-rate,” and adding that reshoots cost about $3-4 million.
The film, which cost a reported $144 million, grossed just $229.1 million worldwide.
Aykroyd praised the cast, headed by Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon, saying, “I was really happy with the movie.”
But, he added, “it cost too much, and Sony does not like to lose money. It made a lot of money around the world, but it just cost too much, making it economically not feasible to do another one.”