Unmade projects
In the early 1980s, Tom Mankiewicz wrote a script for a film titled The Batman, with Reitman attached to direct. He planned to cast Meatballs star Bill Murray as Batman, David Niven as Alfred Pennyworth, William Holden as Commissioner James Gordon, and singer David Bowie as Joker. Following the deaths of Holden and Niven and rewrites of the script, Reitman left the project and was replaced by Gremlins director Joe Dante, but the film was never made.
In the mid-1980s, Reitman was in contention to direct Memoirs of an Invisible Man, but departed from the project due to creative differences with star Chevy Chase.
In February 1996, it was reported that Reitman was planning a remake of Creature From the Black Lagoon at Universal with a script by Herschel Weingrod and Timothy Harris, as well as a potential Marx brothers feature, but neither materialized.
In April 1996, it was reported that Reitman was attached to produce, and possibly direct, a Wonder Woman film. However, three years later, he passed the project on to writer Jon Cohen and left for unknown reasons.
In 2000, Reitman along with Wolfgang Petersen, Rob Reiner, M. Night Shyamalan, Alan Parker, Tim Robbins, Terry Gilliam, Brad Silberling and Peter Weir were considered to direct Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone but the directing job was given to Chris Columbus instead.
In 2001, Reitman revealed he would direct MGM's remake of The Pink Panther, with Mike Myers in the role of Inspector Clouseau. A 2006 iteration starred Steve Martin in the role instead.
In March 2007, New York magazine, citing no sources, stated that Sony Pictures Entertainment wanted to replace Reitman on Ghostbusters III with a younger director, but that Reitman's original contract precluded this. In early 2010, it appeared as if Reitman would direct the film, but in September 2014, after Harold Ramis' death, Paul Feig was officially set to direct a new film, which was released in 2016 as a reboot of the franchise.
In March 2012, it was reported that a sequel to Twins, titled Triplets, was in the works, and that Reitman would co-produce the film. Deadline reported in September 2021 that Reitman would both direct and produce Triplets and that shooting was scheduled to begin in January 2022. The status of the film is unclear following Reitman's death, with Arnold Schwarzenegger suggesting that Reitman's son Jason "stopped the project when his father died" and that the younger Reitman "never liked the idea."
In 2013, it was revealed that Reitman had plans to make a sequel to Evolution, but they never came to fruition.
In June 2016, it was reported that Reitman would produce a prospective animated series Ghostbusters: Ecto Force. In July 2017, Reitman stated that Ecto Force had been postponed to focus on an animated Ghostbusters film that he would produce and co-direct alongside Fletcher Moules.
