Ivan Reitman calms all anxieties about Ghostbusters III by saying it’s not Ghostbusters II

Let Ivan Reitman tell you something: Busting on Ghostbusters II makes him feel good. At least that’s the impression the director and producer gave at the end of this Ain’t It Cool News interview that’s ostensibly pegged to Draft Day but eventually turns, as all present-day conversations with Ivan Reitman must, to the subject of Ghostbusters III. Asked about the unlicensed nuclear albatross that keeps hanging around his neck even after he tried to take it off out of respect to the late Harold Ramis, Reitman reiterated his motivations for not directing the sequel, citing Ramis’ death and unavoidable comparisons to the original Ghostbusters. Comparisons that might hurt Ghostbusters III like they hurt, say, Ghostbusters II, which Reitman called “two-thirds of a great movie.” “I had no problem making it,” he continued, “but I knew we couldn’t do that again.” Etan Cohen’s draft of Ghostbusters III, meanwhile, “really lives up to the original in a way Ghostbusters II didn’t.” So there you have it: According to Ivan Reitman, this sequel and the 35-foot-long, 600-pound Twinkie of fan-related anxiety it has created, is more like Ghostbusters than that other sequel. And with that, no one ever worried about Ghostbusters III ever again.