Ivan Reitman was the surprise guest at last night’s Ghostbusters Blu-ray screening in LA, and he took the time to talk Ghostbusters, the game, and Ghostbusters 3 with the press. Thanks to EDFX for the heads up.
What finally made a Ghostbusters 3 a real possibility?
Reitman: I actually think the combination of both the Blu-ray release and the new game sort of awakened the thirst of at least the creators of the movie to start to rethink it more seriously, the possibility of a sequel. It’s something that’s been sort of dormant in our minds, really, for the last 10 years or so, and there have been two things that sort of told us, “Wow, people still seem to be really interested in this story, and the characters in this story.” More importantly, it sort of reawakened the joy of working on this film in both iterations.
Check out Clay Stone’s article on the event and disc here.
Ivan Reitman also spoke for a minute about his thoughts on Ghostbusters II¸ saying that although the film will never be considered as good as the original, it is still a great companion piece. He also said that, although it hasn’t been announced, he does expect a Blu-ray release of the sequel eventually, hopefully with lots of special features, as it was far better archived than the first film throughout its production. All of the previous releases of Ghostbusters II on DVD have contained little to no special features. Hopefully this will change if/when it’s released on Blu-ray.
Digital Bits had a look at the disc and gave it a solid thumbs up, with caveats.
In any case… I don’t think I’ve ever laughed harder in a movie theatre than I did back in ‘84, when I first saw Ghostbusters. The new Blu-ray version is generally very good, but a few omissions from the previously available DVD extras are likely to prove a frustration for fans and collectors, and prevent the Blu-ray from being called truly great, which is too bad. Still, the improvements in video and audio quality here are very welcome, and the new bonus material (created exclusively for Blu-ray) is quite good. On the whole, the Blu-ray upgrade is still recommended… but at the right price.
Heres a clip I found of Ivan talking before the screening.. Enjoy,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=916rUUj93ss
I’ve died and gone tp heaven! Please, for the love of GOD, let this happen…and well,too! I have the utmost respect and faith with Ivan Reitman. He’s so right, that in this day and age, GB3 just feels “right”. Not sure what it is…but I’ve felt it as well. And unlike other directors, Ivan realises that not only are there GB fans. But for some…GB is deeper, part of us as a whole…”in our hearts”, as he stated. That is so true! He seems very dedicated, like the rest of the original people involved with GB, that this comes as close to greatness as possible. There’s something very special happening here…anyone else feel it?!? I sure do !
I know Ryan William LeClair above said that GB3 feels right in this day and age, and while I certainly agree with you, Ghostbusters 3 felt right to me 10 years ago. When I think of all the movies that have had near-double digit sequels and TV spinoffs (Buffy, StarGate, Nightmare on Elm Street, Terminator: SCC, RoboCop, probably missing way more) I have always felt Ghostbusters should have had a few more movie sequels, and while I loved the cartoons, I always wondered why a live-action series for TV was never made. But I guess the upside for no sequels or TV series is that generally, they eventually jump the shark and taint the franchise.
The Blu-Ray review was really good. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one totally pissed off that Sony left out content from the 1999 DVD on the Blu-Ray (and the 2005 DVD, too). This is even worse than the content that didn’t make it over from the Criterion LD to the 1999 DVD. Two different companies were involved there, whereas all of the DVDs and Blu-Ray were done by Sony. So it sounds like die-hard fans who buy the Blu-Ray should still track down the 1999 DVD.
There is a slight error in the review: As is Sony’s current practice, the original theatrical trailer for this film is also missing (to be fair, there wasn’t one on the DVD version, though the previous Ghostbusters 2 DVD did have trailers for both films). The GB1 1999 DVD has trailers for both GB films, Stripes, and Groundhog Day. The same trailers appeared on the GB2 1999 DVD, but all were left off of the 2005 DVDs for both films.
I also noticed this section:
I take this to mean that Sony decided to ditch that horrible HD transfer they did in 2005 and do a new one with the correct colors and brightness. Since Sony is claiming that László Kovács and Ivan Reitman approved the new transfer, it better damn well NOT look like the 2005 DVD transfer.
i was there! i asked the question about the GBII Bluray!