The actress believes that critics won't dare to utter the same comments if the all-female action comedy was released today.

• Jun 7, 2018

AceShowbiz - Cate Blanchett and Anne Hathaway have attacked male critics of 2016's all-female "Ghostbusters" revamp, insisting no one would stand for their "atrocious" remarks in the current Hollywood climate.

Funnywomen Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones faced a huge backlash for their gender-bending take on the classic franchise, which originally featured Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Dan Aykroyd.

The film was released more than a year before the ongoing #MeToo and Time's Up movements to end sexual misconduct, discrimination, and pay inequality in the workplace gathered pace, and the actresses behind the new "Ocean's 8" heist movie, which is also a female-led affair, are convinced the "Ghostbusters" detractors wouldn't dare to utter the same comments if the action comedy was released today.

"(Ocean's 8 was made) after what I think was an atrocious male-dominated reception of Ghostbusters," Cate said, "which was a great film, those women were hilarious, and I think that film was treated in a way that that film wouldn't be treated now if it was released."

Anne blames members of the press for helping to fan the flames of the revolt against the "Ghostbusters" reboot.

"The reception that 'Ghostbusters' got, the media really glommed (jumped) onto that narrative and that took over whatever anybody was doing," the "Les Miserables" star added in the "Today" show cast interview. "That took over whether or not the film had merit, it was about these men's feelings about it, and I don't think that would happen nowadays; I hope not."

Blanchett and Hathaway feature alongside Sandra Bullock, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Rihanna, Helena Bonham Carter, and Awkwafina in the crime caper, and Bullock admits the timing of the "Ocean's 8" release is interesting, because the industry had yet to make the progressive shift towards more female-focused projects when the movie was being developed.

"Publicly the shift did not happen when we started filming this, so... I don't think we were looked at as, 'Oh, this is really timely,'" she shared. "It was, 'Oh... OK, we'll try it...'"

But they are determined to prove to Hollywood executives that women can turn blockbuster titles into global box office hits without the support of leading men.

"(The notion that) ensembles of women just 'don't sell' - it's just lazy thinking," Cate insisted, claiming only "lazy, stupid people" still think that way.

And Sandra makes it clear there was no feuding between the stars, despite what gossipmongers may think.

"The media did want us to be fighting," she said. "They tried to drop bombs (fake rumours). We're like, 'No, no, no...'".