Sony started the fireworks Wednesday for Paul Feig’s estrogen-fueled reboot of Ghostbusters by showing off the trailer in advance before a select group to standing-ovation results. The movie is slated for a July 15 release. 
 
 Since the project was first announced and kept largely under wraps (some actors’ reps weren’t even privy to the pages their clients were reading), Ghostbusters has faced its fair share of scrutiny by the media for changing the protagonists from men to women. Feig told the crowd at the Sony mini-event that he’s “relieved for the moment, before it’s released to the world.” Producer Ivan Reitman was more certain about the crowd’s response to the trailer, saying, “I’m confident.” 
 
 To the point of the creative decision to switch the genders on Ghostbusters, Feig explained: “Ghostbusters are for everybody. The first movie worked because it had four of the funniest people and I just want the funniest people — and the funniest people are these women.” 
 
 Added screenwriter and co-producer Katie Dippold, who worked with Feig on The Heat, “This is a story, if you placed men in those characters, you could do it. It’s pretty genderless.” 
 
 The reboot was one of the last big projects pushed through by former Sony chief Amy Pascal during her tenure at the studio before The Hack took its toll on the studio. For years, Sony wanted to reboot the film with Bill Murray returning as Peter Venkman and chased him with two scripts. But it was a challenge to get him to read them. Reitman was always a part of the equation. Following the death of Ghostbusters star and scribe Harold Ramis in 2014, Reitman decided to turn over the directing reins. 
 
 Not much has been known until now about the film. Kristen Wiig playsparticle physicist Erin, Melissa McCarthy’s character is an expert in the paranormal, Kate McKinnon’s the nuclear engineer who creates the team’s inventions, and Leslie Jones is a former subway employee who knows her way around New York City. 
 
 The plot per Wiig’s character? As she described her, “Someone had created a device that has amplified paranormal activity and we might be the only ones who can stop it.” Feig mentioned that a number of the Ghostbusters staples that we’re familiar with will definitely make their way into the film, hopefully in a surprising way. Count on a cameo by the round, fat, toothy ghost Slimer, who Reitman said was initially nicknamed in early drafts of the first film as “The Belushi ghost, because he ate all the time.” Dan Ackroyd originally conceived Ghostbusters as a vehicle for him and his SNL and Blues Brothers pal. 
 
 As far as the music goes, Feig says it’s essential to have a portion of the original Ray Parker Jr. title song in the movie. There also will be a new version of that tune. As to whether they’re reusing Elmer Bernstein’s now-familiar themes, Feig said that composer Theodore Shapiro is “doing an amazing theme and we’re playing with a lot of different themes. I want this to be big, spooky and cool.” Feig worked with Shapiro on Spy. 
 
 A majority of those who showed up, and even flew into L.A. for the event at Sony’s Cary Grant Theatre, were mega-fans, guys who dress up like Ghostbusters and visit children’s hospitals around the country. After the trailer ran a first time, they shouted for it to play again. 
 
 Previously announced, Sony also has a guy counterpart Ghostbusters in the works as announced by Deadline last March with Channing Tatum producing and Joe and Anthony Russo directing. ||||| Not only does it have the most dislikes for a trailer on the social platform, but it also makes the top 25 most disliked videos overall. 
 
 Things are not boding well for director Paul Feig's upcoming Ghostbusters based on the film's first official trailer on YouTube. 
 
 Released March 3, the trailer, viewed 29.2 million times and counting, is the most disliked movie trailer in YouTube history, according to "MyTop100Videos" channel's "Most Disliked Videos" list that was last updated April 16. (Justin Bieber comes in at No. 1 with 5.99 million dislikes for "Baby.") 
 
 Coming in at No. 23, the reboot — starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Chris Hemsworth — has more than double the number of dislikes as likes (208,606). 
 
 Thirty years following the release of the original Ghostbusters, directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson, Feig opted to switch up the all-male cast for a female-led reboot. 
 
 On the day of the trailer's release, the director said on the Sony lot before journalists and fans: "I was a comedy fan, but I had not seen something like this — combining comedy with science and the supernatural and action. When Ivan asked if I would be interested in doing a new one, it blew my mind. I love the idea that a new generation is going to have their own Ghostbusters. … It was important to capture the heart of what we loved about the original but also bring something new." 
 
 YouTube user Crippled Camel wrote of his opinion of the trailer: "I signed in under both of my accounts so that I could dislike this twice" — his comment has been liked by more than 1,000 fellow users. 
 
 Although there has been controversy over the trailer, with many YouTube comments centered around the all-female cast, the video has been generating mostly positive reviews on Facebook with 1,186,569 positive reactions (like, love, haha and wow) and 32,589 negative reactions (sad, angry). The reactions add up to 97.3 percent positive sentiments on Facebook overall. 
 
 The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Feig for comment. 
 
 Ghostbusters is set to hit theaters July 22. ||||| Prime your proton packs, because it's not long now before the Ghostbusters reboot haunts theaters worldwide. We've already seen a few promo photos and set shots from the film, but today we've got our first honest-to-goodness trailer. And oh boy, does it have us intrigued. The new supernatural-ass-kicking squad stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, all with distinct skills and personalities. The teaser runs for about two and a half minutes and features plenty of ghouls and other Ghostbuster staples, such as the gang's iconic uniforms, the Ecto-1, and the classic theme tune. July 15th can't come soon enough.
– The first full trailer for the all-female Ghostbusters reboot is here, and the feedback is good: io9 calls it "perfect," and Deadline reports that Sony's official unveiling event Wednesday was attended by a number of "mega-fans" who gave it a standing ovation and "shouted for it to play again." The movie, out July 15, stars Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones. "It looks pretty damn good," declares MoviePilot.com. Engadget's take: "Oh boy, does it have us intrigued."