[quote=Davideverona post_id=4910931 time=1542782414 user_id=49006]They were plotting against Reitman and considering him a poor old past his prime director clinging to his past glories. They wanted to exclude him entirely from the franchise he contribute to create.
[/quote]
Looking at it from a purely academic standpoint, the argument can be made that Ivan is past his prime.
By the end of 1993, Reitman had a number of notable films under his belt: Animal House, Meatballs, Stripes, Ghostbusters, Twins, Ghostbusters II, Kindergarten Cop and Dave. Some were box-office successes, others were moderate successes, some were well-regarded critically while others received a lukewarm response from audiences and critics.
From 1994 onward, fewer of the films that Reitman is placed as director on appear to be as successful as his earlier work. One of his more significant productions around the end of the last millennium/start of the current one is Evolution, which receives some criticism for feeling like an attempt to recreate Ghostbusters, to which the latter film does feature some similar tropes, characters and plot vehicles to the earlier one.
From 2000 to 2014, Reitman’s become significantly less active as a director, the majority of his work coming from a producer position. Of the films he’d directed between 2000 and 2014, the majority continue to receive “mixed reviews” and scorings of around 5/10 (Though it needs to be acknowledged that these scores are usually user-graded via sites like Rotten Tomatoes).
My study was a quick skim through Wikipedia, rather than an in-depth by a motion picture academic, but I wouldn’t say Sony’s view that Ivan wasn’t the hit he once was wasn’t an unfair conclusion. A lot of Ivan’s recent directoral work has not been as successful as his earlier ventures, with the original Ghostbusters likely serving as his career’s high point.
In looking at trying to regenerate Ghostbusters into a legacy franchise, with the potential to have multiple movies spun off of it, would you look into younger directors who are in the position to direct potentially multiple films in a new multi-film franchise, and have a finger on the pulse of what’s currently popular in the comedy movie genre? Or would you chose someone who is a familiar face in the franchise, but hasn’t had as much success in the past decade, and who may not be as able to take on a long-term franchise revival?
I hate to say it, but it was… And is in Sony’s best interest to look at bringing new talent onto Ghostbusters if they want to grow the franchise. If it wasn’t Paul Feig, it would’ve been someone else.