Sony Pictures Entertainment, which has struggled to find a hit this year beyond its “Angry Birds” release, is banking on a reboot.
The Culver City studio is pulling out all the stops as it seeks to make a winner out of the Paul Feig-directed “Ghostbusters,” opening this weekend and starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, and Chris Hemsworth.
“‘Ghostbusters’ is a venerable and much revered brand,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore in Sherman Oaks. “There’s a legacy and a reputation attached to it.”
Yet the studio stumbled out of the box when its early trailers for the film were widely panned. When the “Ghostbusters” first trailer was launched on social media in March, it received so much negative feedback online that it was dubbed the “most disliked” trailer in YouTube history.
“Studios used to think traditional marketing and reviews made all the difference,” said Dergarabedian. “But now it’s social media.”
In response, Sony has spent millions rebooting the marketing for the picture.
While “Ghostbusters” is not much of a sports film, Sony turned to the ESPN CreativeWorks agency, formed in 2010 by the Walt Disney Co. to “develop cross-platform sport-themed creative,” to expand its audience. The viewers they had in mind were the more than 19 million people watching the National Basketball Association’s Finals last month on ABC. Sony and ESPN CreativeWorks developed separate ads for the East and West coasts, one featuring Kobe Bryant and the other New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony, both in Ghostbuster roles.
Sony also partnered with Nas, a hip-hop artist and entrepreneur whose real name is Nasir bin Olu Dara, for Nas x Ghostbusters, a new “Ghostbusters” fashion collection sold at the flagship Ron Herman store on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. And it paired with ridesharing service Lyft for a “Ghost Mode” promotion in several major cities. Lyft passengers who order a ride in Ghost Mode will get to ride in an Ecto-1 replica car from the movie, and have the chance to take home in-car swag and giveaways, such as Hi-C Ecto Coolers and “Ghostbusters”-themed Twinkies by Hostess Brands.
Scary prospects
Much is at stake for the studio.
“Angry Birds,” which grossed $106 million at the domestic box office, is its only film to rank in the top 10 this year. Meanwhile, Disney and 20th Century Fox account for seven of the top 10.
In addition, in the midst of the summer box-office battle, Dwight Caines, president of theatrical marketing for Sony, announced last month that he would be exiting the company after the July 15 release of “Ghostbusters.”
But despite the potential havoc that could be wreaked by negative online chatter, the renewed marketing effort behind the film has instilled confidence in box-office analysts. BoxOffice Pro is predicting that the movie’s $154 million budget will be made back and then some. Opening weekend alone is expected to bring in $63 million, and analysts expect the film, distributed by Sony’s Columbia Pictures unit, to reach $200 million in total.
The original “Ghostbusters,” released in 1984 and directed by Ivan Reitman, a producer on the remake, is still the seventh-highest-grossing film of all time for the studio, having earned $229 million in domestic box office. Still, Feig – who directed hit comedies “Spy” and “Bridesmaids” – wanted to modernize the new version and make it his own.
His idea to recast the “Ghostbusters” with female comedians was met with some criticism. The not-so-subtle subtext was women shouldn’t play roles created by men and that female-driven films don’t do as well at the box office.
“I think people are reading way too much into the motivation for this project, which I believe was simply to make a funny film,” said Mark Young, a professor who studies box-office trends at USC’s Marshall School of Business.
“The success or failure of this movie rests almost entirely on the shoulders of Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, and Kate McKinnon,” said Young. “These are three of the funniest people working in Hollywood today and I’m betting they pull it off.”