In the 27 years between 1989's Ghostbusters II and now, there have been countless failed attempts to craft a Ghostbusters sequel with all of the original stars from the first two movies. While some iterations got farther than others, they never went in front of cameras, until director Paul Feig pitched a much different take on the franchise: a reboot with four female stars. While Sony Pictures embraced the project and gave it the green light, with Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones coming aboard to star, a very vocal cross-section of fans have been spewing plenty of hatred throughout the Internet. As it turns out, the original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman actually appreciates their stance.

These haters have been bad-mouthing director Paul Feig and his cast relentlessly on social media, and they even made the first trailer the most hated in the history of YouTube. Many of these haters offer misogynistic comments about the female cast, but Ivan Reitman revealed in an interview with Mashable that he doesn't think fans of the original movie hate women, but rather they just don't want to see the movie remade by anyone. Here's what he had to say below.

"I think there's way too much talk about gender [when it comes to this film]. I think that many of the people who were complaining were actually lovers of the original movie, not haters of women... I think the lovers of the [original] movie felt there was some kind of sacrilege to re-do it, because it was a seminal part of their moviegoing experience as a 7- or 8-year-old. That's something that can't be minimized, and I totally respect that love."

Of course, Ivan Reitman does serve as a producer on the reboot, along with Dan Aykroyd. Several members of the original Ghostbusters cast do return for cameos, including Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts. And, of course, the iconic ghost Slimer also returns, along with a different version of the Ecot-1.

Ghostbusters also stars Chris Hemsworth as the secretary Kevin, Andy Garcia as the mayor of New York City, Michael K. Williams as Hawkins, Matt Walsh as Rourke, Pat Kiernan as a news anchor and Neil Casey as the human villain Rowan. The reboot is set to hit theaters on July 15, going up against The Finfiltrator starring Bryan Cranston. With just two weeks left until it's release, we'll be sure to keep you posted with any updates regarding Ghostbusters.