‘Ghostbusters’ targets fans during NBA Finals as Judd Apatow speaks out against film’s haters

It’s hard to know how much the so-called backlash to the “Ghostbusters” trailer is an actual dislike for the spot — Kevin Smith was among those making more substantive points — as opposed to a more general and Internet-specific way to let out some old-fashioned misogyny.

It’s also unclear how much the record 850,000 dislikes on YouTube — out of a far greater 33 million views — is a significant number or one that couldn’t really ding a movie; the system is less scientific than the anatomy of a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

Still, the male demographic is clearly on the minds of Sony Pictures for the female-led reboot. On Thursday night, the studio launched an ambitious effort targeting men, with two custom-made spots during the first game of the NBA Finals.

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In the East Coast edition of the spot, New York Knicks stars Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis were joined by the likes of Spike Lee and Clyde Frazier in suiting up and fighting some paranormals.

“This is the Garden; there are ghosts all over,” Lee said as he appeared during a shootaround by the two Knicks.

“Is he always here?” KP asked.

“Unfortunately,” Anthony replied

Frazier dropped in right after, and the four strapped on their ghost-fighting gear and headed out to take care of business. (Incidentally, Madison Square Garden also was featured in a big summer comedy last year, with “Trainwreck” setting its climactic sequence there.)

In a less star-heavy West Coast version, Kobe Bryant is seen as an executive running “Kobe Inc.” When he gets the signal, he aces up a “Mamba”-clad Ghostbusters suit and flies in a helicopter over the Staples Center. “They said retirement was gonna be boring,” he quips.

The Paul Feig film — which stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones and his theaters July 15 — is trying to revive the spark from the 1984 release with a host of modern female comedy stars. So far, though, there’s been a higher-than-usual amount of intrigue off-screen for the reboot, as a meta-battle has played out online and in the film’s marketing efforts. Commenters have been skeptical about the new arrival; whether that’s a genuine fan reaction or a gender-biased one depends on your point of view.

Sony, for its part, has sought to battle back. In the type of endorsement one usually sees in political campaigns, Dan Aykroyd, one of the stars of the original flick, came to the new film’s defense.

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“Apart from brilliant, genuine performances from the cast both female and male, it has more laughs and more scares than the first two films, plus Bill Murray is in it!” the actor wrote on Facebook several days ago.

Aykroyd’s remark didn’t go over so well in some quarters, as a number of online commenters saw it less as an endorsement of the new than a dis on the sacred old. (“So basically your saying this ghostbusters movie is better than the originals? What a way to … on ghostbusters,” was one reply.) Also not lost on observers was the fact that Aykroyd is paid to be in the new film, the kind of move that may just undermine your objectivity. (Where’s Rick Moranis when you need him?)

The gambit of bringing in the old cast to lend a seal-of-approval will continue with an appearance by Murray, Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” together with stars of the new film Wednesday at the anniversary of the original’s release. Creating a link to the past can be a fruitful, if slippery, game for reboots, which want to evoke warm associations without setting up difficult comparisons.

Worth noting in all this is the track record of the new “Ghostbusters” collaborators. Feig and McCarthy have made three movies together, “Bridesmaids,” “The Heat” and “Spy.” The good news: All faced the high bar of being originals, and none grossed less than $110 million in the U.S.

The bad news: Each film has grossed less than the previous, with the totals going from $169 million to $160 million to $111 million.

One high-profile past-Feig contributor, for his part, has offered his vote of confidence.

“The movie comes out, and it will be great, and people will just be happy to have it,” Judd Apatow, who produced “Bridesmaids,” told the site Uproxx. “It’s not like anybody really cares about a couple of idiots who hold onto the idea that things never evolve.”

He then made very clear what demographic he saw the skeptics coming from.

“I would assume there’s a very large crossover of people who are doubtful ‘Ghostbusters’ will be great and people excited about the Donald Trump candidacy,” he said. “I would assume they are the exact same people.

“I think people have paid too much attention to just some angry trolls,” he added.

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Twitter: @ZeitchikLAT