Earlier this week the cast of Paul Feig’s (Bridesmaids, The Heat) upcoming Ghostbusters reboot was confirmed. Kristen Wiig, Melissa Carthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones will be doing the busting of the ghosts. We also learned that it has a confirmed release date of July 22nd, 2016.
Upon the release of this news, the Internet reacted the way one would assume. The general response was positive: a reboot like this is why reboots exist and can be a good thing; taking the form and idea of what came before and putting a beneficial, diverse twist on it. Also: the cast is AWESOME and this could be a lot of fun. The other side of the Internet decided to respond as it/they usually tend to: with a lot of crazy. Many exclaimed that this was “ruining their childhood” and that it is going to suck (without seeing a single piece of footage from the actual movie) and so on and so forth. This casting news also came the same day as the trailer for the Fantastic Four reboot dropped, which features Michael B. Jordan as the Human Torch, a color-blind casting choice that was welcomed by most rational individuals, but of course, had its fair share of contrarians.
There are a few problems with all of this. This is Paul Feig’s iteration of Ghostbusters and it by no means ruins your purposed sanctity of the original movie (which, by the way, is nothing amazing – sorry). Secondly, the reaction to the casting news for this Ghostbusters reboot deterred from how awesome this cast is. Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy seemed like obvious inclusions when this project was originally announced, but it’s the other two that is really exciting. For those unaware, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones are current cast-members of Saturday Night Live. McKinnon was introduced as the heir to Kristen Wiig and, in just a few years, has become one of the most lauded members of the current cast. Jones joined the show this year and has instantly become a fan favourite. Both are exceptional comedians and this cast as a whole is intriguing and promising. Unfortunately, we’ve yet to arrive at a point where this kind of news isn’t as divisive.
So, while that dark portion of the web stays insane, the rest of us look forward to the Ghostbusters reboot.