DreamWorks Pictures Ghost in the Shell today, been removed from the Walt Disney Pictures release schedule. Planned for March 31, 2017 release, movie is now expected to find distribution through Universal Pictures and that studio’s new output deal with DreamWorks.
Set to be directed by Rupert Sanders, the new Ghost in the Shell movie will offer a live-action adaptation of Masamune Shirow’s iconic cyberpunk manga series about the members of a covert ops unit that take on technology-related crime. Ghost in the Shell was famously adapted into an animated feature in 1995.
Produced by Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Steven Paul, the Ghost in the Shell movie also has the backing of Steven Spielberg. The rights to Shirow’s original manga were picked up several years ago with plans to use the latest 3D technology to film it. In Japan, the huge success of the original Ghost in the Shell comics have led to a number of anime film adaptations, a TV series and a series of video games.
Scarlett Johansson is attached to lead Ghost in the Shell with both Pilou Asbæk and Sam Riley also part of the cast.