Recently, Jason Reitman, who is getting ready to direct a brand new Ghostbusters movie, spoke a bit about his upcoming project, but in doing so, appears to have put his foot squarely in his mouth. Some of the director's comments have been taken to be critical of the 2016 female-led Ghostbusters reboot, and Reitman has now taken to social media to insist that he never meant any insult. According to Reitman...
Wo, that came out wrong! I have nothing but admiration for Paul and Leslie and Kate and Melissa and Kristen and the bravery with which they made Ghostbusters 2016. They expanded the universe and made an amazing movie!
Earlier this week, Reitman appeared on Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast and spoke a bit about the history of the Ghostbusters franchise, his own place in it, as the son of director Ivan Reitman who helmed the first two movies, and teased his upcoming film, which will take the movies back to the universe of the first two films. He spoke about how the teaser for his new film was produced using similar techniques to the original movie, but then followed that up by saying the new film would "hand the movie back to the fans."
The idea that the new movie would hand the films back to the fans would seem to imply that at some point the franchise had been taken away from the fans, leading many to be critical of Jason Reitman's comments, as they seemed to be a shot at the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot directed by Paul Feig and starring Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy and Leslie Jones.
That movie was itself dealing with controversy as a vocal contingent of fans attacked the production before it ever got started for making the decision to cast four women as the Ghostbusters team rather than bringing back the original cast. Jason Reitman's movie is expected to bring the original cast back, though exactly how they will fit into the story has not been revealed.
Reitman now says his comments were not meant to be critical of that film, he goes so far as to call it an amazing movie.
All of this certainly does show that the Ghostbusters fan situation isn't going to be calming down anytime soon. Many that liked the Ghostbusters reboot are looking toward the newly announced film with the same skepticism that the reboot was treated to by fans of the original movies. Leslie Jones herself has called the move to make this new movie so soon after the reboot "insulting."
The new Ghostbusters will start filming later this year with plans to release the film in the summer of 2020. You can be sure interest in this one will remain high, and probably at least slightly controversial.
