What do you think a gimmick is? Any movie that could be summed up as, “It’s a remake of X, except Y” can be fairly described as gimmicky. In this case, “It’s a remake of the original Ghostbusters, except with a female cast.” So, I’m calling it gimmicky.
Besides, Ghostbusters is one of those movies that that did not need a remake, by anyone. I really wouldn’t be any happier if they remade it with Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell, and Eddie Murphy.
Would Carrey be Egon, since he’s the only white one with no SNL cast-credit?
Assuming Carrey acts like he usually does (an annoying jackass), then he needs to be Venkman 
Of course it’s a gimmick. That doesn’t mean it won’t be good. With all of those attached to the movie I am hopeful.
Curious if you apply this rule to other language remakes- mostly I’m thinking of American remakes of foreign language films.
These remakes in particular tend to have very quick original->remake turnover. As someone who goes to the theater to see foreign films, it kind of annoys me. Still, from a commercial standpoint I can understand it. Most of the American audience won’t go see a movie that’s not in English so it will be “new” to the majority, and the source material has already proven a hit in other markets.
The fastest remake I can think of that did not involve a change in language was Death at a Funeral: 2007 original Britsh/American production followed by a 2010 American remake.
There were a slew of these dear-god-why sequels to comedies in the 80s:
Arthur 2: On The Rocks
Caddyshack II
Ghostbusters 2
Mannequin 2: On The Move
Meatballs II/III/IV
Oh God! Book 2/Oh God! You Devil
The Sting 2
Teen Wolf 2
Weekend At Bernie’s 2
The Matrix
I mean really, in the end of the first one, Neo tells the machines he’s going free the people and whoop machine’s ass. Matrix 2 and 3 tried to show us that and it just made things worse. I would have been better off just imagining what he would have done.
Not presuming to speak for Ike Witt, of course, but I think English-language remakes of foreign-language films are usually the pits. Re-adaptations of the same source book get a pass. Other than that, though, I think the only way they’re worthwhile is if they reimagine the whole setting (e.g. Yojimbo –> A Fistful of Dollars; Seven Samurai –> The Magnificent Seven), not just swap in American or British actors and a higher budget.
I caught the end of this movie on TV once. Dear sweet Jesus, was it bad! The protagonists were in the Carribbean somewhere, trying to find some money that Bernie had apparently stolen while alive. It turns out that Calypso music makes his corpse get up and walk. (No, I’m not making this up.) The movie ends with his dead body walking along with a parade. The movie stunk worse than poor old Bernie’s corpse possibly could have.
Yes, it was quite odd. I believe the remake was mainly a Black cast, with Peter Dinklage reprising his role from the original(and making him the only non-Black cast member in the sequel).
I’m not sure why they did it. I guess they felt not enough folks saw/remembered the first one.