Ivan Reitman ain’t afraid of no underwhelming box office numbers. The original Ghostbusters director and producer of this year’s reboot says that despite weak returns for Paul Feig’s film, “there’s going to be many other” movies in the franchise. That statement contradicts a previous report, which indicated that Sony is focusing their energy on the animated Ghostbusters film and a new TV series, while the possibility of a sequel to Feig’s reboot had become very unlikely.

Then again, Reitman spent years talking up a Ghostbusters sequel that never happened, his optimism that Bill Murray would eventually get on board ultimately proving futile in the wake of Harold Ramis’ death. So perhaps we should take Reitman’s statement on the Mr. Wavvy podcast (via ComicBook.com), of all places, with a little dash of salt:

There’s going to be many other Ghostbusters movies, they’re just in development right now.

When Feig’s reboot hit theaters back in July, Sony’s president of worldwide distribution Rory Bruer said he had “no doubt” that a sequel was on the way. Then in August, as the reality of the box office numbers set in, THR reported that a sequel was no longer on the table; instead, Sony would redirect their energy toward the animated film and TV series, with the former set to hit theaters in 2019.

Ghostbusters made about $229 million worldwide on a reported budget of $144 million, and with reports suggesting that Sony would need $300 million just to break even (I’ll let you puzzle over that math), a sequel seemed unlikely. Not so, according to Reitman, who seems to believe that there will be “many” more films in the franchise. It’s still quite possible that Sony is plotting another attempt at a live-action Ghostbusters revival, as the studio had originally planned a second film featuring male and female protagonists with Marvel favorites Joe and Anthony Russo directing.

That project fell apart following the Russos’ exit, but Reitman’s quote seems to suggest it might not be as dead as we thought?

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