We Rebooted 7 Male-Driven Movies With Female Stars, à la Ghostbusters

The future of Hollywood is in its past.

Take, for example, Columbia Pictures’ Ghostbusters, Paul Feig‘s reboot of the ’80s film franchise starring Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Kristen Wiig. What seemed like a no-brainer—reviving a hit series by replacing its four male leads with four female leads—has turned into one of the most divisive films in recent history. Before production even began, fans of the original films flooded the Internet with sexist comments. The criticism inspired think pieces (they always do), and when the teaser trailer was released in February, it was picked apart and “disliked” so much that it became YouTube’s most unpopular movie trailer ever. Worst of all, it encouraged some to ask a boring, unoriginal question: “Can women be funny?”

(Seriously, stop asking that.)

The backlash was strange: McCarthy is a proven box office draw, and Wiig is a critical darling. Jones and McKinnon, meanwhile, are two of Saturday Night Live‘s standout performers. So, why the outrage? Ghostbusters is a revered franchise, so it’s no surprise that some fans would prefer to leave the original alone, regardless of the reboot’s stars. Still, there was a sense that some people wanted this film—this female-driven film—to fail. Is it a coincidence that female critics preferred the reboot to their male counterparts, as The Hollywood Reporter recently noted?

Ghostbusters cost $ 154 to make, a somewhat modest budget for a summer tent-pole. As of late June, the comedy was tracking to open in the $ 40 million to $ 50 million range over the July 15-17 weekend. Will it be the megahit the studio had hoped for, or will it be a box office bomb? Moreover, should its performance really be the litmus test for future female-centered movies?

We’d love to see some original female-driven movies, but studios seem intent on churning out reboots and remakes until there’s nothing left to reinvent. So, with that in mind, we did a little dream casting and re-imagined seven of our favorite male-driven films as female-driven vehicles.

1. Indiana Jones

Anna Kendrick took over for Harrison Ford as part of NBC’s Red Nose Day special in 2015. Sure, it was only a spoof, but with her quick wit and sense of adventure, Kendrick would make the perfect successor to Ford. In the sketch, she even addressed the importance of presenting women as intelligent and capable characters. “Man, I’m a respected professor of archaeology,” she lightly scolded the Templar Knight, who commented on her beauty. “Time’s have changed!” Ford is signed on to reprise his role in a fifth Indiana Jones film, to be released in 2019. That would be the perfect time to introduce Kendrick as his heir, the aptly named Indianna Jones.

2. Men in Black

Who could forget Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith‘s hilarious performances as Agent K and Agent J? (Unless, of course, they used a neuralyzer to erase your memory.) Sandra Bullock has earned laughs by playing the straight man in comedies like The Proposal and The Heat, making her the perfect person to assume Jones’ role. As for Smith’s fast-talking rookie agent? Look no further than comedienne Wanda Sykes, who’s stolen just about every scene she’s ever been in.

3. Back to the Future

Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown (Christopher Lloyd) are a dynamic duo, deserving of equally dynamic stars. That’s where Emma Stone and Maya Rudolph come in as Marta McFly and Dr. Emma “Doc” Brown. (See what we did there?) Stone’s enthusiasm is infectious, as she’s proven in comedies like The House Bunny, Easy A and Crazy, Stupid, Love. Rudolph, meanwhile, is known for her unpredictability and ingenuity, having honed her skills for seven years on SNL. Between the two of them, moviegoers would be in for a very wild ride.

4. Die Hard

It’s hard to imagine anyone other than Bruce Willis as off-duty NYPD officer John McClane, so how about the next best thing? Meet Scarlett Johansson as Jane McClane. She’s proven she can hold her own against drug dealers (Lucy), destructive robots (Avengers: Age of Ultron) and organ harvesters (The Island), so a few organized criminals should be no problem for Johansson.

5. James Bond

Forget about the Internet’s boyfriends, Idris Elba and Tom Hiddleston, and give Emily Blunt the job. After all, she was arguably the best part of the action-packed Tom Cruise starrer The Edge of Tomorrow, and her performance in Sicario was a tour de force. Plus, Blunt’s wit rivals that of 007, as she’s demonstrated in films like The Devil Wears Prada and The Five-Year Engagement. With endorsements from actors like Joel Edgerton, we’d kill to see Blunt starring as Jade Bond.

6. Beverly Hills Cop

Look, we get it: There’s no topping Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley. But if there’s anyone who could come close, it’s Tracee Ellis Ross. With numerous TV credits under her belt—Girlfriends, Reed Between the Lines and Black-ish, to name a few—Ross is an experienced performer. Ross is a confident, too, which is exactly what her character—whom we’ve renamed Alex Foley—needs.

7. Three Men and a Baby

Part of the original film’s charm was watching Tom Selleck‘s Peter Mitchell, Steve Guttenberg‘s Michael Kellam and Ted Danson‘s Jack Holden figure out how to father on the fly. Our imagined version—titled Three Blondes a Baby—would star Hayden Panettiere as Piper Mitchell, Jennifer Lawrence as Michelle Kellam and Margot Robbie as Jackie Holden. A lighthearted movie such as this relies on comic timing and charisma, something each of the three starlets has in spades.