What Does 'Ghostbusters' Trailer Trouble Mean?

Earlier this week, a plethora of headlines trumpeted the fact that the trailer for the upcoming reboot of Ghostbusters is one of the most disliked videos on YouTube. But before you conclude that that's evidence the movie's in trouble, it's best to look all those dislikes in context. The situation might not be as dire as it looks.

First of all, the trailer is not the most disliked video on YouTube. Yes, it's the most disliked trailer in YouTube history, but its 600,000 dislikes don't even come close to the number of dislikes gathered by Justin Bieber's "Baby" video, the number one most disliked video in YouTube history. Bieber's video has earned 6 million dislikes, about ten times as many as the Ghostbusters trailer. In fact, most of the disliked videos ahead of Ghostbusters on the list are music videos by artists who still manage to sell lots of records.

Next, consider that the trailer has received about 30 million views. That means that 49 out of every 50 viewers didn't give the trailer a thumbs down.

Finally, consider the source of the dislikes. A quick glance through the video's comments section makes it clear that a sizable number of the thumbs down come from trolls who've been drawn to the video by the news of its supposed unpopularity.

Paul Feig's film may face an uphill battle when it hits theaters in July, but counting YouTube dislikes is probably not a reliable method for predicting whether the movie will bomb or not.