Why Is The 2016 'Ghostbusters' Excluded From The Franchise's New Box Set Collection?

Filmmaker Paul Feig has openly questioned why his 2016 “Ghostbusters” film with an all-female leading cast was omitted from an upcoming box set that includes the other films in the popular franchise.

What Happened: Sony Pictures SONY is planning a Feb. 1 release of an eight-disc “Ghostbusters Ultimate Collection” to Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD, according to the Hollywood Reporter. This will coincide with the same-day home entertainment release of “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” which is currently in theaters.

But missing from the box set is the Feig-directed that created a new crew of ectoplasmic warriors consisting of Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, with Chris Hemsworth as their less-than-helpful male assistant. Feig, whose previous films included “Bridesmaids” and “A Simple Favor” and whose next work “The School for Good and Evil” is being released in 2022 by Netflix NFLX, challenged Sony on Twitter for an explanation.

“Um … @SonyPictures , I know this must be a mistake,” Feig tweeted. “We do have a lot of fans and Bill, Dan and Ernie were in it and it won the Kids Choice Award for Best Feature Film the year it came out. So, I guess this was just an oversight?”

Feig, whose tweet referenced the three surviving stars of the original 1984 “Ghostbusters” — Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson — also included the hashtag #weareallghostbusters in his message. Sony Pictures did not publicly acknowledge Feig’s tweet.

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Why It Happened: Feig’s “Ghostbusters” was designed to reboot a film franchise that went dormant in 1989 with the release of “Ghostbusters II.”

The announcement of the new crew of female stars generated a heated backlash on social media, with the film’s trailer gaining the sorry status as the most disliked trailer posted to YouTube. Leslie Jones was singled out among her castmates for social media abuse of both a misogynist and racist nature, most notably in comments by far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos that resulted in his suspension from Twitter.

While Feig’s film grossed $229.1 million from a $144 million budget, it was considered a commercial failure because of the expensive marketing campaign financed by Sony ahead of its release. Film industry analysts speculated “Ghostbusters” lost between $58 million and $75 million.

Photo: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon in a publicity photo from the 2016 "Ghostbusters," courtesy of Sony Pictures