Ivan Reitman

Filmmakers

Ivan Reitman, OC (October 27, 1946 – February 12, 2022) was a Czechoslovak-Canadian film and television director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his comedy work, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. He is the owner of The Montecito Picture Company, founded in 1998.

Notable films he’s directed include Meatballs (1979), with Bill Murray; Stripes (1981), with Murray and Harold Ramis, and John Candy; Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989), all with Murray, Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts, and Rick Moranis; Legal Eagles (1986), with Robert Redford, Debra Winger, Daryl Hannah, Brian Dennehy, Terence Stamp, and Steven Hill; Twins (1988), with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito; Kindergarten Cop (1990), with Schwarzenegger; Dave (1993) with Kevin Klein and Weaver; and Junior (1994), with Schwarzenegger, DeVito, and Emma Thompson.

Later films include Father’s Day (1997), with Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Nastassja Kinski; Six Days, Seven Nights (1998), with Harrison Ford and Anne Heche; Evolution (2001), with David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott, Julianne Moore, and Ted Levine; My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006), with Luke Wilson, Uma Thurman, Anna Faris, Eddie Izzard, Rainn Wilson, and Wanda Sykes; No Strings Attached (2011), with Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher, Cary Elwes, Kline, Greta Gerwig, Lake Bell, Olivia Thirlby, Jake Johnson, and Mindy Kaling; and Draft Day (2014), with Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Denis Leary, Frank Langella, Sam Elliott, Ellen Burstyn, and Chadwick Boseman.

Reitman has also served as producer for such films as David Cronenberg‘s Shivers (1975), National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978), directed by John Landis, with John Belushi; the animated anthology film Heavy Metal (1981), Beethoven (1992), with Charles Grodin and Bonnie Hunt; Space Jam (1996), with NBA player Michael and the Looney Tunes; Private Parts (1997), with Howard Stern and Paul Giamatti, Atom Egoyan’s Chloe (2009), with Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, and Amanda Seyfried, and Hitchcock (2012), with Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, and Scarlett Johansson.

His son Jason Reitman is also a filmmaker, he served as a producer on his film Up in the Air (2009), with George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Danny McBride, and J.K. Simmons. He also produced the 2016 Ghostbusters remake with Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, and Chris Hemsworth, and will serve as a producer on the direct sequel to the original 2 films, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which will star Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, and Paul Rudd, while Murray, Aykroyd, Hudson, Weaver, and Potts reprise their roles from the original films.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

Director

  • Orientation (1968) – short
  • Foxy Lady (1971)
  • Cannibal Girls (1973)
  • Meatballs (1979)
  • Stripes (1981)
  • Ghostbusters (1984)**
  • Legal Eagles (1986)
  • Twins (1988)
  • Ghostbusters II (1989)
  • Kindergarten Cop (1990)
  • Dave (1993)
  • Junior (1994)
  • Father’s Day (1997)*
  • Six Days, Seven Nights (1998)
  • Evolution (2001)*
  • Cooking Lessons (2004) – TV movie
  • My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006)
  • No Strings Attached (2011)
  • Draft Day (2014)

Producer

  • Shivers (1975) – directed by David Cronenberg
  • Death Weekend (1975) – directed by William Fruet
  • Ilsa, the Tigress of Siberia (1977) – directed by Jean LaFleur – co-produced with Roger Corman
  • Animal House (1978) – directed by John Landis
  • Heavy Metal (1981) – directed by Gerald Potterton
  • Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992) – directed by Roger Spottiswoode
  • Space Jame (1996) – directed by Joe Pytka
  • Private Parts (1997) – directed by Betty Thomas
  • Post Grad (2009) – directed by Vicky Jenson
  • Up in the Air (2009)* – directed by Jason Reitman
  • Chloe (2009) – directed by Atom Egoyan
  • Hitchcock (2012) – directed by Sacha Gervasi
  • Ghostbusters (2016) – directed by Paul Feig
  • Baywatch (2017) – directed by Seth Gordon
  • Father Figures (2017) – directed by Lawrence Sher
  • Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)* – directed by Jason Reitman