Whether you believe that Sony rigged the uproar over Ghostbusters or think that the critics were paid off, there's one thing you can't deny: Money. Regardless of the mostly positive reviews, Ghostbusters did not manage to break-even.
The movie cost somewhere around $300 million to make and advertise and has only made around $180 million at the global box office, which includes the $117 million from the domestic box office. This kind of loss deeply cuts into Sony's plans of rebooting the live-action Ghostbusters "universe."
Sony has yet to comment on whether the idea of a sequel has been thrown out, however, a representative has said that the studio is looking to continue the franchise in animated features that could release in 2019, spearheaded by an animated TV series in 2018.
A Sony rep did comment on how much money the movie did make though, calling the calculation "way off." Apparently, all of the other Ghostbusters merchandise and promotions made the enough money to make up for the movie's losses.
"This loss calculation is way off," said the Sony rep. "With multiple revenue streams, including consumer products, gaming, location-based entertainment, continued international rollout, and huge third-party promotional partnerships that mitigated costs, the bottom line, even before co-financing, is not remotely close to that number."
Whether or not Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon will come back for another Ghostbusters remains unverified.
[THR]
