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Melissa McCarthy ‘confused’ by ‘Ghostbusters’ trailer

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Last week, thousands of YouTubers trashed the trailer for the upcoming “Ghostbusters” reboot.

This week, one of the film’s own stars is hating on the teaser.

OK, maybe hate is a strong word. But Melissa McCarthy, who stars in the movie alongside Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig and Leslie Jones, has admitted that even she found the trailer “very confusing.”

In an interview on “The Johnjay and Rich Show” on Monday, the actress said she was perplexed as to why the trailer began with a title card touting action that happened “30 years ago” in the 1984 version of “Ghostbusters.”

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“It’s a reboot, not a remake,” McCarthy told the radio hosts. “I know it’s weird that they say ’30 years ago,’ but in this movie it’s like the first one didn’t happen. It’s that great story but told totally differently. But it’s the same thing of four unlikely heroes. It’s in New York City [and] ghosts are taking over.”

McCarthy noted that she voiced her displeasure with the “30 years ago” reference, but her concerns were ignored.

“Believe me, the question was asked,” she explained. “I was like, ‘I think that’s very confusing.’ But then everyone said, ‘We don’t care what you think.’”

The actress’ remarks come in the wake of controversy over the trailer’s reception on YouTube, where since March it has racked up 30.4 million views and roughly 654,000 dislikes. That means the trailer is now one of the most disliked videos ever posted on the site, behind music videos from artists like Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus.

But Paul Feig, who directed the new “Ghostbusters,” told the Guardian he wasn’t worried about the online haterade affecting box-office sales. Given the number of views the trailer has amassed, he said, the negative commenters did not make for a “majority by anybody’s standards.”

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“Some of it is that people don’t want an old property touched – I’m sympathetic to that. But the ones who are hating it because it’s about women? That’s just a nonstarter,” he said. “It makes me sad that informs every article now. There’s always some comment about how people are down on it. Well, somebody is down on everything. It’s very easy once you’re predisposed to be pissed about something to watch it and find fault.”

Find me on Twitter @AmyKinLA

amy.kaufman@latimes.com

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