Those movie promo tie-ins during the NBA finals? They're the worst. When it comes to crass marketing, you'd be hard pressed to find anything more blatant and ill-fitting. It might be more bearable this time around, however, as it looks like producers will make an actual attempt to do something fun. Namely, they're bringing in Kobe Bryant for the Ghostbusters promos, which gets a big "why not?" from us.
The Players' Tribune released today a bunch of behind-the scenes photos of Kobe preparing for his new career as a parapsychologist. In the images Kobe dons a jumpsuit with his nickname—"Mamba"—stitched onto the name patch. He even gets to try out a proton pack! Kobe's faced down the likes Dwight Howard before, but can he dunk over a 100-foot tall center made of marshmallow? (Or are those two the same?)
The promo is scheduled to air during tonight's Game 1 between the Warriors and the Cavs.
Ghostbusters, in the meanwhile, could use some (good) publicity. While the film has a cast of proven box office performers (Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy), and a solid comedic director (Paul Feig), it's been the target of a lot of vitriol for some reason; Ghostbusters has the most disliked film trailer in the history of YouTube, reports ScreenCrush. As of today it has more than 857,000 thumbs down (!!)
This is all very confusing. It seems like people are A-OK with revivals of past creative properties. Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd, who has seen a test of the new film, has said that Feig's version "has more laughs and more scares than the first 2 films." Even Bill Murray, who was famously wary about being in another Ghostbusters, liked the script enough to agree to a cameo. So why all the hate?
Two possibilities. It's either because fanboys are dumping on the movie for adopting an all-female cast for the leads, or a lot of people are irate over the absence of Rick Moranis, who refused a cameo role. We're betting on the former.
"The undercurrent of misogyny isn't too hard to see, even if it's not stated explicitly," said Vanity Fair. Even Donald Trump joined in on the fray when he exclaimed, "And now they're making Ghostbusters with only women. What's going on?!" .
Either way, Ghostbusters will likely be a box-office smash. Plus it looks like Kobe will be in the audience to cheer on his fellow parapsychologists, so all the haters can back off. 00000180-f294-d7ce-a5ec-f7ff464d0006
