'Ghostbusters 3' Release Date Announced Along with New All-Female Cast Including Kristen Wiig & Melissa McCarthy

The new Ghostbusters 3 movie has released a lot of exciting (depending who you are) news this week. First, it was announced that Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones will be leading the cast, which confirms the all female casting rumors. 

Next, they officially announced a release date for the upcoming comedy-sci-fi film. Director Paul Feig tweeted out the news sharing, "In other news, #Ghostbusters will be hitting theaters July 22, 2016. Save the date!" 

Feng has previously worked with Melissa and Kristen as director in their hit film Bridesmaids. This was his coming out party as a director with Bridesmaids (2011), bringing in $288 million globally on a reported $32.5 million budget.

The director position for the new Ghostbusters film opened up in March as Ivan Reitman - the filmmaker behind Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II - decided to step away following the death of original Ghostbuster Harold Ramis. Reitman will still serve as a producer and Sony is moving forward with the script they have written by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg (though it has been altered since Ramis' passing). 

The original plan for the new movie was to get the original cast back together, but all of that changed with Ramis' passing. Dan Aykroyd had originally committed to return as Dr. Raymond Stantz, however original co-star Bill Murray has said turned down the idea of returning as Dr. Peter Venkman. Ernie Hudson, who played Winston Zeddmore, was quoted saying, "There can't be another Ghostbusters without Harold." 

Are you excited about the new castings announced for Ghostbusters 3?