Ivan Reitman Mum On Ghostbusters 2, Developing Other Films In Franchise

11/24/2016 07:09 pm EST

It's been a while since plans for a sequel to this year's controversial Ghostbusters reboot were reportedly scuttled because of its middling box office draw wasn't as much as Sony hoped to make from their tentpole comedy franchise -- and now original Ghostbusters filmmaker Ivan Reitman, who produced the all-female version, is opening up about the future of the franchise.

...Just, you know...not the sequel.

During a recent podcast interview, the veteran director/producer was quizzed about the future of Ghostbusters 2, teased at the end of the new Ghostbusters, which would presumably see the team face off against agents of Gozer (as the original movie did).

After being asked specifically about that film, Reitman answered more generally.

"There's going to be many other Ghostbusters movies, they're just in development right now," Reitman told the Mr. Wavvy podcast.

Director Paul Feig recently said the decision to move forward or not was up to the studio since "they have to pay for it."

"Nobody's called me," Feig said. "But I love those characters and I know they are now heroes and mean a lot to a lot of people, so in a perfect world it would be great if we could see them bust more ghosts, kick more ass, and be awesome again."

There are pervasive rumors that the film wasn't enough of a hit to guarantee a follow-up, and may have lost as much as $70 million after the cost of promotion.

For its part, Sony disputes that $70 million number and says that losses have been extremely exaggerated.

"This loss calculation is way off," says the Sony rep. "With multiple revenue streams, including consumer products, gaming, location-based entertainment, continued international rollout, and huge third-party promotional partnerships that mitigated costs, the bottom line, even before co-financing, is not remotely close to that number."

The film is currently on Blu-ray and DVD, and can be picked up for a song at numerous Black Friday sales this weekend.

Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.