Moving RichardLess and I's discussion from the general Frozen Empire thread to here in order to avoid clogging up the other one.
In the end, the specific instinct I'm talking about is pretty minute and very subjective. It's simply that little switch in a person's mind between "I don't want to see that" or "I don't know if I want to see that" to "I'm willing to see that" or "I want to see that," and I think with sequels, there should also be some subconscious layer of "I was already expecting there to be more of these." I think that last part is pretty essential, and I just don't buy that general audiences, who in the early internet days, had probably not heard more than a few words about a Ghostbusters 3 for years, were sitting around going, "Well, where is it?" I was obviously as much of a fan then as I am now, and even I struggled to find, say, a passing referencing to Murray wanting to come back as a ghost in an issue of Wizard Magazine, and I just can't imagine the people who only go to the movies 5 times a year were seeing even that. Without that, I don't see where this big anticipation is coming from, because the series simply appears to be over. I believe you could have created a certain amount of hype for it simply by announcing it was happening between, say, 1999 and 2012, but I definitely see that hype being tempered by the quality of Ghostbusters II (even in a place like this there would've been people saying, "yeah, but Ghostbusters II...") and the cast's age and track record in recent years.
I also think you're overestimating the cartoon. I think of the movie as being aimed at an "SNL" audience of young and middle-aged adults, and while it was obviously an unexpected success with younger audiences, I still think most people who liked it were already too old for the kid-aimed cartoon, which certainly has a nostalgia factor, but mostly for people of a certain age.
And the cast’s lack of blockbuster roles doesn’t matter a single bit. i see it different. To me that is not how this works. Please let’s just think about the logic of it for a minute. People don’t say to themselves “Oh look! A new ghostbusters movie is coming out. It’s too bad Bill Murray hasn’t had a hit movie in awhile”.I mean, that's not something I said, so, sure, I don't think that's what people would think. It's more like, "Man, Bill Murray's been making a lot of bad movies recently, and now he's running back to Ghostbusters to make a few extra bucks. The second one wasn't very good either, so I don't know..." Or, "Man, Dan Aykroyd just made a bad sequel to The Blues Brothers and now he wants to do Ghostbusters. Not getting my hopes up..."
In the end, the specific instinct I'm talking about is pretty minute and very subjective. It's simply that little switch in a person's mind between "I don't want to see that" or "I don't know if I want to see that" to "I'm willing to see that" or "I want to see that," and I think with sequels, there should also be some subconscious layer of "I was already expecting there to be more of these." I think that last part is pretty essential, and I just don't buy that general audiences, who in the early internet days, had probably not heard more than a few words about a Ghostbusters 3 for years, were sitting around going, "Well, where is it?" I was obviously as much of a fan then as I am now, and even I struggled to find, say, a passing referencing to Murray wanting to come back as a ghost in an issue of Wizard Magazine, and I just can't imagine the people who only go to the movies 5 times a year were seeing even that. Without that, I don't see where this big anticipation is coming from, because the series simply appears to be over. I believe you could have created a certain amount of hype for it simply by announcing it was happening between, say, 1999 and 2012, but I definitely see that hype being tempered by the quality of Ghostbusters II (even in a place like this there would've been people saying, "yeah, but Ghostbusters II...") and the cast's age and track record in recent years.
I think the issue here is you are thinking Ghostbusters 2 is way more important than it is in anyone’s decision making. It was 1989. Again, prior to 2016, the majority of people’s association with Ghostbusters would be: The movie, the song or the cartoon. GB2’s biggest sin is probably how forgettable it was.Like I said, I think even in a fan community like this there would be lots of people arguing that Ghostbusters II was lesser than the original and that Ghostbusters 3 could be lesser than that. I know lots of people in the fan community love the sequel, but I find it odd that you don't think that could possibly have been widely viewed as a strike against a third. It certainly was for many of the key folks involved in making it, who would often preface comments about a third one being developed with some variation on, "I don't think the second one was up to snuff."
I also think you're overestimating the cartoon. I think of the movie as being aimed at an "SNL" audience of young and middle-aged adults, and while it was obviously an unexpected success with younger audiences, I still think most people who liked it were already too old for the kid-aimed cartoon, which certainly has a nostalgia factor, but mostly for people of a certain age.
As for Harrison Ford, Dial of Destiny would like a word with you. That movie tanked. Why? They popped the balloon with KOTC in 2008.I also did not make any sort of case that Dial of Destiny was unaffected by Crystal Skull. That's essentially my reasoning as to why a negative stink of something like a Ghostbusters II would stick around through to a Ghostbusters 3, even though they are not perfect parallels for various reasons. It's like they say, when people have a bad experience with something, they're more likely to tell someone else about it than if they had a good one, and thus, even though 15 years passed between the two movies, people still had that skepticism that a new Indiana Jones could be as good as they wanted, and I see no reason that would not have held true with Ghostbusters II.
Statistics: Posted by tylergfoster — March 1st, 2024, 10:35 am