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‘Widow’s Bay’ Creator’s Failed Franchise Reboot Is Officially Leaving Netflix

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On paper, reuniting one of the most successful director-actor pairs of the 2010s to reboot a franchise that audiences were hungry to revisit seemed like a home run. However, the plan ended in disaster and changed how Hollywood makes and markets movies. It was the mid-2010s, and Melissa McCarthy was one of the biggest box-office draws in the business. She broke out with Bridesmaids, and then headlined a string of hits including The Heat and Spy. All three movies were directed by Paul Feig, and they grossed a combined total of around $1 billion worldwide. It made all the sense in the world to get the two together for a reboot of a long-running horror comedy franchise that had been hovering in limbo for years. The movie in question is currently streaming on Netflix, but not for much longer.

With McCarthy on board, the studio rounded up the film’s cast with comedy stars such as Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, and Chris Hemsworth in an against-type cameo. The film’s behind-the-camera team was spearheaded by Feig, who also wrote the screenplay with Katie Dippold; she would go on to win accolades for creating the Apple TV series Widow’s Bay. But things began to go off the rails immediately after the film’s first teaser was unveiled; it ended up becoming the most downvoted trailer in history on YouTube. The backlash continued, and eventually impacted the film’s performance at the box office. It was one of the earliest examples of review-bombing in the internet age, often motivated by misogyny or bias and targeted at fan-focused properties that prominently feature women and other minorities.

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Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz
Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most?
Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek

Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🚀Star Wars

💍Lord of the Rings

🧙Harry Potter

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👑Game of Thrones

🖖Star Trek

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01

What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning?
Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.





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02

Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit?
The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.





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03

How do you prefer your conflicts resolved?
The shape of a world’s conflicts tells you everything about its soul.





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04

Who do you want beside you when things get difficult?
Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.





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05

What is your relationship with power?
How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.





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06

How does your universe treat good and evil?
A world’s moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.





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07

What role would you naturally fall into?
Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?





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08

What do you ultimately believe about the future?
The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.





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Your Universe Has Been Chosen
You Belong In…

Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.

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A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Star Wars

You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.

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  • You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
  • You’d find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
  • Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
  • The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.


Middle-earth

Lord of the Rings

You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world’s beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.

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  • Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
  • You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
  • Tolkien’s universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
  • Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.


The Wizarding World

Harry Potter

You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what’s right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.

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  • The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
  • You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
  • Harry Potter’s universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
  • That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.


Westeros · The Known World

Game of Thrones

You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.

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  • Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
  • You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don’t confuse the world as it is with the world as you’d like it to be.
  • Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
  • Winter always comes. You are already prepared.


The United Federation of Planets

Star Trek

You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.

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  • Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
  • You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
  • The Federation is the universe’s most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
  • You don’t just hope that’s possible. You think it’s the only thing worth working toward.

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Here’s How Long You Have Left to Watch the Controversial Horror Comedy on Netflix

We’re talking, of course, about Ghostbusters: Answer the Call. Produced on a reported budget of $144 million, the film grossed $229 million at the worldwide box office. Despite the review-bombing, it actually received mostly positive reviews from critics. The movie is now sitting at a “Certified Fresh” 74% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Ghostbusters does an impressive job of standing on its own as a freewheeling, marvelously cast supernatural comedy — even if it can’t help but pale somewhat in comparison with the classic original.” Female-led reboots became risky propositions after the film’s release, and Sony opted to reboot the franchise with Ghostbusters: Afterlife instead. You can watch Feig’s film on Netflix until October 1, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.


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Release Date
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July 14, 2016

Runtime

117 minutes

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Director

Paul Feig

Writers
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Katie Dippold

Producers

Ivan Reitman, Joe Medjuck, Michele Imperato Stabile, Tom Pollock, Ali Bell, Amy Pascal

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