DreamWorks has acquired rights to the Japanese postcyberpunk manga Ghost in the Shell after Steven Spielberg took personal interest in the popular anime property. Variety reports that the studio plans to develop Shell into a 3D live-action feature-length film. Created by Masamune Shirow (Appleseed), Ghost in the Shell was first published in 1989 in Young Magazine. Over the years the manga has been adapted into three anime films, two anime television series, and three PlayStation video games.
According to Wikipedia, the futuristic police thriller follows the exploits of Motoko Kusanagi, a member of the covert operations section of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission, Section 9, which specializes in fighting technology-related crime. Kusanagi is capable of superhuman feats, and bionically specialized for her job - her body is almost completely mechanized; only her brain and a segment of her spinal cord are organic. I have never seen Ghost in the Shell, but the concept sounds like it could make a really cool live-action film.
And while Spielberg was instrumental on getting this project done at DreamWorks, he’s not attached to the project in any official capacity (at least as far as I can tell… may-be he’s executive producer?). Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Steven Paul will produce, and Street Kings screenwriter Jamie Moss has been hired to pen the adaptation.
I have included the movie trailer for Ghost in a Shell 2: Innocence below for your viewing pleasure.
Discuss: Are you excited fora live action 3D Ghost in the Shell movie? Who should direct?
April 15th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
I guess it’s officially started. I was wondering when Hollywood was going to dry up it’s source of comic remakes and start importing Manga and Anime.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
They’re going to ruin this property.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Mamoru Oshii should direct. No one knows his work better than him.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Well I guess since they already remake nearly every Japanese horror film that is a success it’s not that big of a leap to start on other aspects of a culture that hasn’t yet lost the ideas of creativity and imagination. Just take a look at what’s happening with all the bloated and uninspired remakes, sequels, and poor translations of American film, TV, and books/comics. It’s time for them to start ruining someone else’s childhood.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
“Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Steven Paul will produce, and Street Kings screenwriter Jamie Moss has been hired to pen the adaptation.”
Probably the worst group of people to get for a great project like this. You might as well just hand it to Raimi to direct it into the ground.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Why would you include the trailer for Innocence? It has nothing to do with the main storyline, it’s pretty much just a side story.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Ah, you didnt see it? i dont get why so many people are ignoring some great anime movies/series :
April 15th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I hope they don’t take such a great adult manga and turn it into a kid friendly version that ends up blowing more head than a whale blows water.
April 15th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Peter,
Watch both GITS films, they’re great. You’ll realize all these goons attached to the 3D project won’t do it justice.
That Tachikoma Spider-Tank scene in the museum in the first film still kicks ass till this day.
April 15th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
I thoroughly enjoyed all of the GITS stories, but I particularly liked The Laughing Man story from GITS:SAC.
April 15th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
It would be cool to see this done correctly, but does anybody really think this won’t just be some kind of Matrix or Aeon Flux retred? There’s some really heady stuff in both original movies (especially the second one), but I’m willing to bet this will end up being a dumbed-down action flick. I’ll stick with the originals, thanks.
April 15th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I think as long as Spielberg doesn’t direct it will be great! How he managed to make a Philip K. Dick property a PG-13 film blows my mind.
April 15th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Agony,
That’s pretty much exactly what I expect them to turn it into. The manga and the animated films really did go into a deep psychology of the characters and questioning their existence and what life means to them. The other problem are the general people tied to it. They’re going to turn this into a PG-13 Beowulf mastubatory action film.
GITS on it’s own is like Japan’s Blade Runner. In terms of style? I don’t see it happening either. Unless they get the perfect director and writer for this. But even then I’m being really optimistic.
The construction intro alone in the first GITS film is still one of my favorite animated pieces to date.
April 15th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Perfect vehicle for a proper live action anime. GITS has a great story, a magentic protagonist and stunning visuals. Hopefully this will pave the way to Evangelion.
April 15th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
@ Christopher Marc
100% agree, Minority Report could have been so much better.
April 15th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
@clarence - omg evangelion. A well done movie adaption of that would make transformers just look silly, and i really liked the transformers movie. Evangelion is just on a whole different level though. Of course they would probably dumb it down. That’s the thing about Japanese anime, they go so out there that you often times question the writer’s sanity. (and in the case of some writer’s like the one for hunter x hunter they really are insane…) Yet it’s easy to get drawn in to the worlds they create, it’s like the feeling you get when you arrive in a totally foreign country and you feel lost/awed. You (almost?) never get that feeling from big budget american movies and i don’t see same intensity and wonderment being captured when being remade.
April 15th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Evangelion could easily be done but it would need some editing. While I loved “most” of the series, there are tons of crap I could easily have cut out of it so most people could actually “get it” in film form.
A trilogy for something like Evangelion would be great. These types of projects like comics, need directors who give a shit about the material and ultimately respect it enough to evolve it into film. Most of the time they don’t. It why we get these shit-ass versions most of the time.
I have never liked Spileberg’s sci-fi. It’s corny as hell and mind-numbingly boring. So I hope for the most part he doesn’t touch something like this at all.
April 15th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
@ Captain Awesome
Have you seen the production artwork for the live action Evangelion film from Weta?…amazing stuff!..too bad nothing is being done with it so far…
April 15th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Yes I have Chris,
And they’re beautiful! It saddens me that project is just stting there in a vault somewhere in new Zealand.
I’m not even sure Weta does have a vault.
:(
April 15th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Though a massive Eva fan (to the extent of writing a pretty horrid live action script), I do think most of the stuff that makes Eva ’special’ is a ton of rubbish. Still, it has supremely compelling characters and a cool vibe - not to mention the Evas themselves. Before ReBuild, I thought Eva’s episodic nature didn’t lend it well tp live action adaptation, but since ReBuild has compressed the series into proper films - why not live action?
WETA’s designs are awesome!
April 15th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Hold a sec. It is a live action movie or a 3D movie?
April 15th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
My God, that trailer was almost as bad as the movie. Way to overuse the dramatic voiceover past the brink of cheesiness. Ghost in the Shell 2 was waaayyy too metaphorical, bored the crap out of me.
The first movie and both seasons of the series, however, were awesome. Some of my favorite anime of all time – I dig the mix of cyberpunk, war and politics. But this project reminds me of Aeon Flux, by which I mean: it will suck in live-action.
April 15th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Damn, Agony beat me to the Aeon Flux comparison. I concur.
April 15th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
GITS is such a smart, mature, sophisticate film. it needs a director who fair the same, to create a dark and gritty version of the future. i would love GITS to go through the same film style as minority report with blade runner-children of men atmosphere.
April 15th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
what they should have done with the dragonball movie.
April 15th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Darren Aronofsky, get him for it, i believe he could bring something to the table.
It will be interesting to see how they treat this, heres for hoping!
April 16th, 2008 at 12:49 am
Darren Aronofsky would be awesome.
i have two request-let it be shot outside the untied states and have Kenji Kawai create the hunting score.
April 16th, 2008 at 1:37 am
Can you have a 3D Live Action film? I would have thought you could have a 3D or a Live Action one, not both? It’s possible I’m missing something though.
April 16th, 2008 at 7:22 am
Ang Lee, he can do anything
April 16th, 2008 at 8:40 am
“Can you have a 3D Live Action film? I would have thought you could have a 3D or a Live Action one, not both? It’s possible I’m missing something though.”
It is both live action and 3D, the new stereoscopic camera developed by James Cameron & Co. have made that possible. They were used for that U2 3D film, and Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, which isn’t out yet, but as long as it’s not crap I’ll go and see it for the 3D. The real breakthrough 3D picture is gonna be Avatar, though.
Anyway, those could be good, if those producers don;t f*** it up. The reminds me that I’m yet to watch the originals, even though the look awesome.
April 16th, 2008 at 10:51 am
I read an anime magazine once that suggested Charlize Theron as Makoto, a great choice for me, if she hadn’t done Aeon Flux already. A younger Ron Perlman could make a good Batou … or an older Vin Diesel?
April 16th, 2008 at 11:16 am
IMO it’s not even a question of good or bad, it is just pointless. As others have pointed out, this kind of project further confirms the lack of ideas/unwillingness to use original material at major film studios. If these guys think it’s so good - and they should do, because it is one of the handful of anime films that truly deserves it’s rep - the only deal to be done should be the one that gets it re-released to cinemas, with suitably committed promotion. A remake/rehash is unnecessary.
April 16th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I particularly liked the scene where she went swimming in the first movie.
April 16th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
I died a bit inside when I heard this. I see it as highly unlikely that Dreamworks will put out something true to the spirit of the series and movies.
And I guess cans any chance of a new animated series?
Or how “wide” are the rights dreamworks aquired?
April 17th, 2008 at 12:29 am
I was only watching Solid State Society today actually and thinking that a Live GITS movie would be awesome.. If done propperly of course. for some reason the first director that came to mind was David Cronenberg, I think he would portray mans spiral into neural addiction and abuse so well as he melds science and grief so uniquely. Then Again Ridly Scott seems an obvious choice too.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:53 am
Well, it does sound good to make the live-action film, but without knowledge of the Manga, & Anime verison of Ghost in the Shell, would you make a live action film?
July 6th, 2008 at 3:42 am
@Vander
Ridley Scott is the only director that came to mind, I think to be honest he’s the only one that could pull it off. SPeaking of Ridley Scott, if Sigourney Weaver were younger (a la Alien) she could be well suited to play the Major; just think of the Major always in her little panties and Riply when she’s changing into the space suit near the end of Alien. Plus she plays a tough female character well.
@Sandaflon.
I died a bit when I heard this too, I’d be absolutely devastatey if they fucked this up. All the adaptations of GITS have been epic, legendary, absolute master pieces….trust Hollywood to kill a good thing. One can only hope it is done well.
July 6th, 2008 at 8:06 am
As much of a great fan that i am toward the original movies and anime series. I have been looking forward to getting a full length film. Who should direct it?? Well as cliche as this might sound, the persons that first came to mind is the Wachowski brothers. They are not afraid to take the time to tell the story. They will not over do the action or bore us with to much dialog. Others that come to mind is; James Cameron, Micheal Bay, and yeah i could see a Ridley Scott trying his hand at this because of this blade runner work. And to add, I like the idea of having Mamoru Oshii (original director of the first and second) anime movie, or Kenji Kamiyama (Stand alone complex fame). The biggest hurdle this file is going to have is the studio in charge. Will dream works give the OK for an R rating?? This file, its theme, its genera, and the people that know of this work are going to demand the intensity of the past stories which would call for an R rating. Will Dream works look past the fact that its going to be in animation but needs to be an R rating?? Guess we will see. Although im still not clear as to whether or not it is going to be in animation or not. This whole “live action 3D” doesn’t make much sense. Are we going to get a Beaowulf 3D movie or a Spy kids 3D movie?? But back to what I was saying before. Right now it really doesnt matter who will be directing it, when u have such a large hurdle to cross, that being the studio.