All-female 'Ghostbusters' reboot faced animosity tied to 'anti-Hillary movement,' director says

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The filmmaker behind the 2016 all-female "Ghostbusters" reboot suggested Tuesday that the animosity his film faced was tied to the "anti-Hillary movement."

During an interview on the SiriusXM's "The Jess Cagle Show,” director Paul Feig was asked to reflect on the release of his film, which coincided with the 2016 election with Hillary Clinton as the Democrat candidate.

“I think some really brilliant author or researcher or sociologist needs to write a book about 2016 and how intertwined we were with Hillary and the anti-Hillary movement,” Feig said.

“And it was just this year where, I don't know, it's just -- everyone went to a boiling point. I don’t know if it was having, you know, an African-American president for eight years that teed them up or something, but they were just ready to explode. And so by the time, in 2014 or 2015, when I announced I was going to do it, it started.”

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Feig, who is best known for directing the comedy blockbuster "Bridesmaids," then pointed to a complaint he heard from then-candidate Donald Trump about the all-female "Ghostbusters" movie.

“It’s crazy how people got nuts about women trying to be in power or trying to be in positions that they weren’t normally in. And it was an ugly, ugly year," the filmmaker added.

"Ghostbusters" grossed about $230 million in the global box office and was reportedly a $50 million loss for Sony Pictures.

The reboot starred Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones.

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A new "Ghostbusters" movie was set to be released this summer but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The film, "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" is supposed to be a direct sequel to the 1989 installment of the franchise and completely separate from the 2016 reboot.

"Afterlife," which is now slated for a March 2021 release, stars Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard and McKenna Grace and will feature appearances from the cast of the original franchise -- including Bill Murray, Dan Akyroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts.