Live-Action GHOST IN THE SHELL Movie Lands Spring 2017 Release Date

Disney has lined-up a bunch of new release dates which includes their adaptation of the manga turned anime film/series Ghost In The Shell. The film directed by Snow White And The Huntsman's Rupert Sanders is now set for an April 14th, 2017.

It will be coming out a week after Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim 2.

The manga, anime and series focuses on a covert Japanese police force Section 9, who is mostly made-up of cyborg cops that tackle cyber crime and terrorists in the year 2029.



We actually haven't learned what Disney's plans for their film version of the movie. It's extremely possible that the film could indeed still be set in Japan and take many cues from it's source material.

Scarlett Johansson (Her, Lost In Translation, Under The Skin) has been previously been cast as the film's lead as The Major. This is after a reported $10M offer from the studio to take the role after they passed on Margot Robbie (Wolf of Wall Street, Tarzan, Suicide Squad).

Other sources claim the studio were also looking at Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Lawrence for the role.

This is seemingly a role in Scarlett's wheelhouse with action roles in films such as Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Solider, The Island and last summer's huge success story with Luc Besson's Lucy.

A French film set in Taiwan and France with a mostly foreign supporting cast with a budget of $40M but earning $459M worldwide at the box office.

The film went head-to-head with Dwayne Johnson's Hercules it's opening weekend in the U.S. and managed to squash it. Proving Scarlett is ready to evolve to action heroine, even if Marvel isn't about to give her a Black Widow film.

Her addition to the cast is considered somewhat to controversial to some. Yet, it's unknown what direction the film is going and that is highlighted by the studio not releasing an official synopsis for the film. People are being quick-on-the-draw to claim whitewashing but that's far from the case so far.

Let's be a bit more open-minded.

I personally don't see it that way considering The Major's body is a robotic shell and ethnicity doesn't really come into play here. It's possible the manufacturing company could dictate what her robotic "shell" will look like.

Who is to say the company making the bodies isn't from the west or that in fact The Major is from Japan but has a western background?

It's possible that Scarlett's version of The Major was born or raised in Japan. There is a growing group of western immigrants flooding into Japan. An influx of foreigners do live in Japan a lot of people are ignoring this fact. The increase is due to the alarming birth rate decline as the country has one of the lowest in the world. An aspect that isn't really reflected in the Japanese film industry.

There could be a point where the Japanese will be minority in their own country if they can't get their birth rates up.

Having some non-Japanese on a police force is going to be common place in the future, which is the film's setting since it's 14 years in the future.

I'd also like to point-out that Major's shell does have blue eyes in the original anime film.

I am against Americanizing the film entirely but also open to some slight changes that are likely going to happen when Disney and Hollywood get's involved.

We didn't lose our minds when Edge of Tomorrow changed Tom Cruise's character from Japanese to American or Emily Blunt's Rita from American to British from the original book All You Need Is Kill. That film ended-up becoming a badass adaptation.

Ghost In The Shell is a completely different property than Akira, which is hugely a Japanese story and even has a Japanese title. Shell is slightly different identity and allows for a bit more wiggle-room for a cinematic re-imagining than Akira does.

A science fiction story that mimics fears of too much military power, war mongering and looming nuclear threats to a civilian population. Warner Bros. handling of the film was serious whitewash treatment on all fronts.

The studio searched for actors and actresses about twenty of them for the major roles in the film. Looking at only white actors for roles, not just for one role but all of them.

The location was being moved from Neo Tokyo to Manhattan. Seemingly muting the nuclear holocaust themes that were linked to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. An extremely Japanese aspect essential to the film's story, psyche and identity.

They were even changing a majority of the Japanese names to give them a western spin. Something we don't expect will be the case with the characters in Shell.

I'm also in the belief that since they are hunting international cyber and artificial intelligence terrorists in a global community. We should be seeing an international task-force to combat it but based out of Japan.

Having Scarlett surrounded by a large and talented Japanese cast similar to films like Black Rain and The Wolverine is also very likely. I still believe we're going to be getting a Japanese centric film but it being lead by Scarlett Johansson

I'm not entirely convinced Rupert Sanders is the best director for the job but he did an excellent job on the live-action ads for Halo 3: ODST. Gathering more emotion than the entire runtime of Huntsman. There is some expectation he could bring that edge to Shell. 



We'll being seeing a huge push by the creators to get the word out about the property. As a new untitled anime film is on it's way this summer from the creative team behind the prequel Ghost In The Shell: Arise. I assume the film will eventually make it's way to Netflix like Arise.

They've also developed a first-person shooter game Ghost In The Shell First Connection that looks beyond cool with may land Stateside at some point before the live-action film. I'm hoping the film mixes the design artwork from the original manga/film with this new game.



SOURCE: DISNEY/DREAMWORKS

Teaser For New GHOST IN THE SHELL Anime Film Coming In 2015 With A Score By Cornelius

CrunchyRoll has word from the official Ghost In The Shell website that a third untitled anime film will be coming out around summer 2015. I have no idea when it will or if it will be released in North America but it would be a good idea to at least have a limited release. I'm stoked to see what direction they'll be going here, since it's apparently linked to the four-part Ghost In The Shell Arise prequel series with the same writer and director.

Japanese pop artist Cornelius is scoring the film which is beyond cool. I was a big fan of his music in the early 2000s but haven't listened much in a long time. He helped a bit with the music for Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim, so he's not a stranger to film. It's possible the music in it's short teaser is from him. Cornelius also scored the series Arise which is currently on Netflix.

It's excellent timing but we really need to see this film getting promoted in the U.S.. Mainly, because Dreamworks' needs to get the word out the mainstream about this property since they are aiming to release a live-action film. Having director Rupert Sanders and starring Scarlett Johansson it's release could come sometime in either 2016 or 2017. A first person shooter game is also in the works, and will hopefully be released worldwide before the live-action film's release.

I loved the original film and liked the first viewing of the second film Innocence, enjoying only a few scenes in the sequel with return viewings. I couldn't get into the series because of the inferrer animation style but I'm sure there is plenty of awesome episodes there.

Below is the teaser poster and trailer for the film. The trailer doesn't show much, but it cements the film is coming. While Ninja Scroll 2's release has been delayed for years and no sight of release date.

SOURCE: CHUNCHYROLL

Scarlett Johansson Confirmed As The Major In Rupert Sanders' GHOST IN THE SHELL Movie

Variety is confirming that Scarlett Johansson has indeed has taken the lead role of The Major in Rupert Sanders' (Snow White And The Huntsman) Ghost In The Shell adaptation. The film is based on the wildly popular anime film and series, which was adapted from a manga. A new first-person-shooter game is also in development, so the franchise has been hinting all media market points. Steven Spielberg who originally obtained the film rights is still listed as a producer, which is good news.

The story revolves on a futuristic Japanese secret police unit of augmented humans and cyborgs. Who are tasked to fight technology based crimes and terrorism with extreme force. Scarlett's character The Major, is a key team leader in the unit.

The actress isn't a stranger to Japan or Asia, as her first breakout role was in Sophia Coppola's Tokyo-set Lost In Translation opposite Bill Murray. Also recently, shooting in Taiwan for Lucy (speaking Korean in the film) and shot in South Korea for Age of Ultron. The understanding is that the film should and will be still set in Japan. As we haven't heard otherwise, considering Scarlett's history with shooting in Asian countries. The assumption is they will be shooting on location in Japan. I have zero doubts we could even see her speaking Japanese in the film.

However, Hollywood has whitewashed and Americanized manga/anime properties before. Warner Bros. famously tried to limit the Japanese influence in their Akira film, looking at all white actors for the leads. Along with moving the setting to Manhattan and not Neo Tokyo. I'm sure this sort of information will be released once the film is officially greenlit.

Scarlett's rise is in-part thanks to her widely beloved role as Marvel's Black Widow in Iron Man 2, Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron. Over the summer her breakout French-produced action hit Lucy made $458.8M on a budget of $40M. Proving the actress has international awareness, not to menion beating Dwayne Johnson's Hercules (a film budgeted over $100M) it's opening weekend (the two films opened the same weekend). The international take in Russia, China and other Asian markets prove that audiences can handle an American actress in a foreign setting.

It's been reported by Deadline the actress was offered $10M for the role. Which would she her acting quote sky-rocket for future film contacts. It's doubtful the notoriously stingy Marvel Studios would be willing to pay her $10M a film, if she only has a supporting role in the cinematic universe. Robert Downey Jr. has figured-out a way to get paid $50M an appearance, but Scarlett isn't as essential to the MCU as Robert is at the moment.

Kevin Feige has since axed all talk about developing a Black Widow spin-off movie, and has confirmed her place is as a supporting character. I'm still unsure if Widow will come out of Age of Ultron alive, as this sort of talk gives the impression they could kill her off before having to draw-up a new and very expensive contract. This looks to be a smart power move on the part of Scarlett who is quickly becoming equally known for her action hero status as her dramatic and indie projects.








SOURCE: VARIETY

Scarlett Johansson Wanted Badly For GHOST IN THE SHELL, Studio Offers Actress $10M

While Marvel Studios sleeps on the opportunity to make a Black Widow franchise. Other studios are taking advantage of Scarlett Johansson's rising action stardom. Lucy recently broke $400 million worldwide, beating the huge budgeted Hercules on opening weekend domestically. Even though, the French production cost $40 million to make.

Dreamworks wants Johansson baldy for their adaptation of the manga/anime Ghost In The Shell. Deadline reports the studio is offering the lead role, along with a $10 million payday. Margot Robbie was originally linked for the role, but could take a lead in Suicide Squad instead. An offer she would unlikely be getting from Marvel Studios. Her contract with Marvel is coming to an end, and it's unlikely the studio will want to re-up her contract. Knowing she would be asking for more money, and possibly her own feature.

Director Rupert Sanders (Snow White And The Hunstman, Live-Action Halo Commercials) has been tapped to direct Shell, and could become a launching-point for a very cool female-driven action franchise.







SOURCE: DEADLINE

Margot Robbie In Talks To Lead Rupert Sander's GHOST IN THE SHELL

TheWrap reports that Australian actress Margot Robbie (Tarzan, Wolf of Wall Street) is in early talks to take the lead role in Dreamworks' Ghost In The Shell movie. The film based on the widely popular anime/manga series, has been in development for ages. Rupert Sanders (Snow White And The Huntsman) will direct the film with an updated script from screenwriter Bill Wheeler.

Robbie's role would likely be a version of Major Motoko Kusanagi, a member of a covert ops team that fights tech/cyber crime and terrorists, in Japan. The Major is a cyborg herself, but it's unknown how many changes the filmmakers will make from the original source material.

SOURCE: THEWRAP

Rupert Sanders Will Direct Live-Action GHOST IN THE SHELL Movie

It's been years since we've heard anything new concerning the live-action Ghost In The Shell movie from Dreamworks and Steven Spielberg, but Deadline has a production update. They say that, Rupert Sanders (Snow White And The Huntsman) has made a deal to direct and the project has a new script from William Wheeler.

Previously, a draft from screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar, Shutter Island, Terminator: Genesis) had been written but likely won't be used. Sanders has a few other productions in the works, but this could be priority, if Edge of Tomorrow (another manga adaptation) becomes a big box office hit. At one point Rupert Sanders (like Neill Blomkamp) was being eyed to direct a Halo film. This was after directing the live-action ODST trailer. Having Rupert return to science fiction is a very good thing.



Sanders is the type of director they need for this project, a stellar visionary but new enough that will try new things. While I didn't love Huntsman, I did enjoy a lot of the visuals and mostly everyone in it (besides the wooden performance of Kristen Stewart). Let's just hope Rupert can be a little more professional with his lead actress, this time around. The key aspect now will be finding the right actors.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

First Footage From Prequel GHOST IN THE SHELL: ARISE

Laeta Kalogridis And Patrick Lussier Hired To Write TERMINATOR 5

Deadline reports that Annapurna Pictures and Skydance Productions have finally hired writers for their new Terminator film. They picked Laeta Kalogridis the co-writer of Avatar and Patrick Lussier (My Bloody Valentine, Drive Angry). Laeta's credits also includes Shutter Island, Alexander, Pathfinder along with in-development projects like James Cameron's Battle Angel and Ghost In The Shell live-action movie. The project currently is without a director but it is interesting to see a two-time James Cameron collaborator has been brought on to work on the script. No word on if Arnold Schwarzenegger or Christian Bale will actually be coming back.

Kise Kazuchika Directing GHOST IN THE SHELL: ARISE

Twitch is reporting that development on a third anime film based on the Ghost In The Shell manga is on it's way. The film entitled Ghost In The Shell: Arise will be directed by Kise Kazuchika (Blood: The Last Vampire, Neon Genesis Evangelion). Details are unknown at this point but it's title could be a speculative clue. It's possible Arise could mean the resurrection of the Major or even a cyborg uprising. There had been a live-action film in development-limbo over at Dreamworks with producer Steven Spielberg attached. That project has a script written by Jamie Moss only to be replaced with Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island, Avatar) but hasn't been mentioned in a very long time.

Six Films That DREDD Director Pete Travis Should Tackle Next

Dredd has to be one of the best R-rated action flicks I've seen in a long time. District 9 being the last film that was as entertaining as Dredd was. It wasn't a paint-by-numbers action flick like Expendables 2 or even watered down like Taken 2. The film took cues from the original Robocop and Total Recall films, serious action in a surreal science fiction world. It's been even longer since we've seen a solid/fun R-rated comic book film. I've come up a few other projects that director Pete Travis should be considered for. Keep Travis in mind Fox, Sony, Warner Bros. and Dreamworks because he's the next Matthew Vaughn.

DEUS EX: CBS Films has optioned the rights to make a film based on the recent video game. Considering it would be a smaller production and would need a talent like Travis to beef up the film's apperence without spending a boat-load of money he could manage it. As Dredd's budget was in the range of $45 million which is slightly more than half of a terrible Adam Sandler comedy. Pete could build the world for Deus Ex from the ground up and make it his own.

METAL GEAR SOLID: Sony along with producer Avi Arad (Iron Man, X-Men 1-3, Spider-Man) recently announced that a Metal Gear Solid film is finally in the works. Christopher Nolan might be the creator Hideo Kojima's choice but they'll have to lower their standards considering it's a video game franchise. If given a solid script I assume Pete could give us a decent take on Snake. However, it's unknown if a script is in place but it would be nice to see Hideo involved. Not that the quality is there with Sony's Resident Evil films but they are a successful R-rated video game film franchise. Which could help influence the rating come budget discussions.

GHOST IN THE SHELL: Dreamworks and Steven Spielberg have been trying to develop a Ghost In The Shell film for years now. They've had screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island, Avatar) working on it for ages now. It had been confirmed by Laeta that the adaptation would be influenced by the original manga not the anime films. While Dreamworks mostly makes family friendly film it's possible they could aim to please the fans by including it's adult material. Pete proved he can handle developing an arc for a female character (Anderson) within an action setting, a rare task these days.

NINJA SCROLL: Appian Way, who also tried to develop an Akira film holds the film rights currently. They were a little more faithful with their adaptation announcement stating the production would be filmed in Japan with Japanese actors. A bold statement considering all the liberties they and Warner Bros. took with changing the entire identity of Akira (now in limbo). Warner Bros. hired Watchmen scribe Alex Tse to develop a script back in 2010 but since then no word on it's development. While this is more of a fantasy film it has enough action that could be helped by Travis, plus it doesn't hurt to switch up genres slightly.

HARD BOILED: The Dark Horse comic is ultra-violent an is about a troubled tax collector called Nixon who realizes that his life is nothing like what it seems and he is a man of metal, like some kind of robot doing the bidding of a dark organization. Frank Miller is currently developing the script for Warner Bros. there had been talk of him directing. However, after The Spirit those talks have likely ended. That said, his relationship with the studio is still solid with his comic Xerxes being the basis of the 300 sequel 300: Rise of An Empire. I think a Frank Miller/Pete Travis team up could be something special. The art from Hard Boiled reminded me of Robocop meets Judge Dredd, so it's hard not to connect the two gentlemen.

PREDATORS 2: Like Dredd, Predators was a reboot of sorts. The only thing is that Judge Dredd was a flop while Predator and it's reboot Predators (somewhat) were successful. It comes down to a personal interest to see what Pete Travis could do within the Predator universe. Ridley Scott is already planning his Prometheus sequel Paradise and Fox should take advantage of the rekindled interest in their R-rate science fiction. There had been word from producer/writer Robert Rodriguez the studio had interest in making a sequel to Predators but that was awhile back now. My main problem with the film is how they rushed things and hired Nimrod not Rodriguez. Instead of waiting for Robert to direct and Arnold Schwarzenegger to make his return as Dutch.

Arnold is back making films along with returning to the Terminator and Conan franchises. It's only a matter of time before we start hearing rumblings he's getting for another shot at Predator. Originally, Robert's Predator sequel had Dutch on the Predator world which seems like a excellent way to move the series forward. It also included humans using Predator technology which could help even the playground a bit. What I'd like to see is Pete considered for the directing gig while Arnold returns as Dutch pushing more of a science fiction aspect of the franchise. There were some solid elements from the AVP comics that could inspire the next installment. Including a civil war among the predator clans not to mention what happens when a group of humans get their hands on predator-tech for their own use. Having "worthy" humans inducted into the clans by testing their wit/might against dangerous alien creatures.

Five Projects That Could Use Some Joss Whedon Magic

Now that Joss Whedon's Avengers is quickly on it's way to become one of the biggest films of all-time. Whedon will likely be getting dozens of offers from other studios with the hope of creating a new franchise or rebooting old ones. Hopefully this new success solidifies Joss as a feature film director and he keeps making large scaled films. A bunch of budding projects and ones stuck in development limbo could use some Whedon magic.

AKIRA: This horribly handled adaptation by Warner Bros. had recently put on hold when the studio couldn't lock down a budget. One of the bigger issues was that the film would have almost zero similarities to the original manga and anime. Changing the characters (white-washing casting) and setting to be completely Americanized rather than embracing it's Japanese roots. Whedon has proven he's able to faithfully adapt similar material while creating more of cinematic scope and balls out action. An Akira film needs thrilling action set pieces and solid three dimensional characters which Joss could deliver with a brand new script.

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: MOTU is finally back in the works thanks to Universal. Whedon's stunning Cabin In The Woods script proves he could handle something like this. If you seen the film you know what I'm talking about. It could even use the satirical elements that were used in Cabin since it's going to be tough to make a serious He-Man film without going along with the joke.

GHOST IN THE SHELL: Yet another another manga/anime project that's been in development for ages. Dreamworks and producer Steven Spielberg haven't really done much with this besides hiring Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar, Battle Angel) to write a script a few years back. I feel that Whedon could really knock this out of the park with being able to create strong female leads and supporting casts. Plus his background with Firefly means he can create a sci-fi focused futuristic world.

FLASH GORDON: Gordon has to be one of the greatest swashbuckling characters ever created. It's last live-action film made in the 80's is considered one of the best camp science fiction films ever made. The tongue-and-cheek action flick seems like a perfect project for Joss and seems like he could spread his wings creatively in the process. A script and director had been put together for a new film back in 2010 but nothing has come of it.

HALO: One of the biggest missed opportunities has to be this video game adaptation as at one point with both Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium) and Rupert Sanders (Snow White And The Huntsman) had been attached to direct the film. The two budding directors had directed popular live-action Halo commercials before jump into their own franchises. Blomkamp actually had started pre-production on it before the studio and Microsoft shut it down. Sanders had been more rumored but he would eventually remove himself from the running as he's now focusing on a Huntsman spin-off to Snow White And The Huntsman. I'm sure a new Halo film with Joss Whedon directing and handling the script could spark another bidding war to make it.