By Jake Coyle, Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --To sell "Ghostbusters," who are you going to call? In the film's initial nationwide TV spots, not its female stars.
Sony Pictures trotted out commercials Thursday night that promoted the female-led reboot not with cast members Melissa McCarthy or Kristen Wiig, but basketball stars Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony. The ads ran on ABC during game one of the NBA Finals, which is watched by a largely male audience.
Targeting different demographics through varied marketing strategies is commonplace for Hollywood films. Rarer are ads that replace a movie's actual cast wholesale.
The ads, which drew mixed reactions from viewers Thursday night, exhibited the anxiety Sony may have in getting enough male moviegoers to buy tickets for the big-budget comedy. A lot is riding on the film, due out July 15, which cost more than $150 million to make.
Since its inception, Paul Feig's "Ghostbusters" — which also stars Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones — has proven unexpectedly divisive online. Some have objected to the 1984 original being remade at all, while others have voiced criticisms of the female-led cast that have been called sexist. Much attention has centered on the high number of "dislikes" the film's trailer received on YouTube.
The spots Thursday featured one New York Knicks-centric ad with Anthony, Spike Lee, Kristaps Porzingis and Clyde Frazier strapping on proton packs. In the other, the newly retired Bryant wages war in a "Ghostbusters" jumpsuit. The East Coast-West Coast ads were made jointly by Sony Pictures and ESPN.
The promotional push for "Ghostbusters" is going into hyperdrive. Sony also announced that Wednesday will be "Ghostbusters Day."
At least then the "Ghostbusters" cast will get part of the marketing spotlight. Jimmy Kimmel will host the stars, along with appearances of original cast members Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts on Wednesday.
Top Olympic sponsor Panasonic is ending its contract with the IOC
TOKYO (AP)--Olympic sponsor Panasonic is terminating its contract with the IOC at the end of the year, the company said in a statement Tuesday. Panasonic is one of 15 companies that are so-called TOP sponsors for the International Olympic Committee. It's not known the value of the Panasonic sponsorship, but sponsors contribute more than $2 billion in a four-year cycle to the IOC. In a statement, Panasonic said it became an IOC sponsor in 1987 and expanded to the Paralympics in 2014. It did not make clear why it was changing course and said only that is was related to continual "reviews how sponsorship should evolve." Two other Japanese companies are also among the IOC's 15 leading sponsors. Toyota, which for several months has been reportedly ready to end its contract, was contacted Tuesday by The Associated Press but offered no new information. "Toyota has been supporting the Olympic and Paralympic movements since 2015 and continues to do so," Toyota said in a statement. "No announcement to suggest otherwise has been made by Toyota." Japanese sponsors seem to have turned away from the Olympics, likely related to the one-year delay in holding the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The COVID-19 delay reduced sponsors' visibility with no fans allowed to attend competition venues, ran up the costs, and unearthed myriad corruption scandals around the Games. Tiremaker Bridgestone told AP "nothing has been decided." Toyota had a contact valued at $835 million — reported to be the IOC's largest when it was announced in 2015. It included four Olympics beginning with the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games in South Korea and ran through the just-completed Paris Olympics and Paralympics. Reports in Japan suggest Toyota may keep its Paralympic Olympic sponsorship. The... Read More