Movies

Jason Reitman Responds To 'Ghostbusters' Backlash, Director Paul Feig Gives Support

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By Ethan Anderton

Director Jason Reitman recently announced that he would be following in his father Ivan Reitman's footsteps by directing a Ghostbusters sequel that would take place decades after the original movies in the franchise. The reception for this new project has ranged from fury about ignoring the new Ghostbusters to celebration that we'll finally get a sequel set in the original universe of New York's finest paranormal investigators. That's to be expected when you're dealing with a franchise like Ghostbusters.

But there was more than a little bitterness online yesterday in response to a certain comment that Jason Reitman made about his new Ghostbusters project. While appearing on Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast, the director explained that in addition to going back to some of the old school filmmaking techniques they used on the original movie, he wanted to "hand the movie back to the fans." And that came with all sorts of implications about the 2016 Ghostbusters and exactly where they stand as fans.

Thankfully, Jason Reitman has clarified his feelings on Ghostbusters: Answer the Call, responded to the backlash, and even has an ally in director Paul Feig. Find out what he had to say below.

After uproar online carried Jason Reitman's remarks all across the web, Reitman responded with a tweet last night:

And if you believe this is just damage control, Paul Feig offered up defense of Jason Reitman too:

This seems to be a case of people assuming that Jason Reitman's remarks were being supportive of the toxic fanbase that reviled everything about Ghostbusters: Answer the Call. This despicable sect of Ghostbusters fans wouldn't even give Paul Feig a chance to prove that he and Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones could make Ghostbusters their own.

But Reitman wasn't trying to empower that section of the fandom. Instead, he's merely saying that this will bring the franchise back to fans of the original films. This echoes what he already said about both Ghostbusters: Answer the Call and what he intends to do with this new Ghostbusters project. When the sequel was first announced, he told Entertainment Weekly:

"I have so much respect for what Paul created with those brilliant actresses, and would love to see more stories from them. However, this new movie will follow the trajectory of the original film."

Ghostbusters: Answer the Call fans certainly have a right to be upset about Sony Pictures opting not to continue the new franchise at this point. But let's not forget that director Paul Feig specifically set out to make a movie that was not directly connected to the original franchise, so a sequel that follows the first two movies in the franchise is obligated to ignore the reboot. That's just how storytelling works. Granted, there's a way that both Ghostbusters franchises could still be linked, but that's an entirely different conversation.

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