Though Hollywood currently has several magna adaptations in the works, Alita: Battle Angel, Adam Wingard’s Death Note and the long-rumored Akira reboot, to name but a few, it’s Rupert Sanders’ Ghost in the Shell that seemingly has people most excited. With Scarlett Johansson’s name on the masthead, it’s easy to see why that is, and though the marketing campaign for the film has yet to kick into high gear, the cogs are definitely starting to turn.
Earlier this week, we caught a peek of Johansson in action as Major Motoko Kusanagi in the stylish first teaser, where the actress’ elite cyborg heroine delivered a sucker punch to an unsuspecting thug. Cloaked in some form of invisible technology, the leader of Section 9 truly looked the part as she began to crack down on the city’s crime levels.
It was a brief but tantalizing tease, one that left us hungry for the first trailer, which is due to arrive this Sunday. We’ll have it for you as soon as it’s available, but for now, we’ve got a new featurette to hold you over. Though only about a minute long, it takes us behind the scenes of the sci-fi flick, giving us even more to drool over as we eagerly await our first proper look at Johansson and co.
Speaking about staying true to the source material, producer Avi Arad assured fans that they’re bringing it to life faithfully:
“Hopefully the film feels like the anime. I feel like such a geek making this movie because we are really bringing it to life so faithfully. We are bringing things we saw in the anime to the fore in live action so I’m very excited for the fans.”
It’s easy to say that now, of course, so the real test will be the first proper trailer, which will finally let us know for sure whether or not this adaptation is going to please the franchise’s loyal fanbase. Claims of whitewashing have already shed a negative light over the film, so Paramount will no doubt be hoping that the footage released this weekend will help alleviate some fears that people may have.
Directed by Rupert Sanders, Ghost in the Shell opens on March 31, 2017, at which point Johansson will be flanked by Pilou Asbæk, Michael Pitt, Juliette Binoche, Kaori Momoi, Rila Fukushima, Chin Han, Danusia Samal, Lasarus Ratuere, Yutaka Izumihara and Tuwanda Manyimo.