Melissa McCarthy. Kristen Wiig. Kate McKinnon. Leslie Jones. Barring some calamitous event like cats and dogs living together, this is the new quartet starring in Paul Feig's Ghostbusters reboot. Earlier today, The Hollywood Reporter said that McCarthy had signed but the other three were in negotiation. Soon after, however, Feig tweeted this picture:
— Paul Feig (@paulfeig) January 27, 2015
Wiig starred in Feig's massively successful comedy Bridesmaids along with McCarthy, who later reunited with Feig to co-star in his movie The Heat with Sandra Bullock. Both McKinnon and Jones are current Saturday Night Live cast members (Wiig left the show in 2012).
The lack of a press release (or any accompanying text to Feig's tweet) means this still isn't official, but we'd be surprised if the roster changed now. What does appear to be official is the film's release date: a few hours after tweeting the cast photo, Feig stated in no uncertain terms that Ghostbusters would be in theaters on July 22, 2016.
In other news, #Ghostbusters will be hitting theaters July 22, 2016. Save the date!
— Paul Feig (@paulfeig) January 28, 2015
A follow-up to Ghostbusters 2 had been in development hell for literally decades before Feig signed on last year to reboot the franchise. The new film is expected to begin shooting later this year.
Update, 8:00PM ET: Added details of the official release date for the Ghostbusters reboot.