Dreamworks to Adapt Ghost in the Shell



Posted by Rodneyon 23. 10. 2009in News Chat

Ghost in the Shell is one of those mastpeices of Anime like Akira that hold up over the years. It is among my favourite animated films of all time.

Now Dreamworks is trying to make it a live action film again.

First Showing

DreamWorks has hired screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis to adapt the Ghost in the Shell manga into a futuristic live-action 3D police thriller.

As with any film with as many rich visuals and effects, I worry that the undertaking to make a faithful adaptation will cost more than Avatar, and therein lies its risk to make its money back.

I personally am excited to see some of these animated wonders be given life as a live action feature and I don’t jump to the conclusion that they will rape the Asian stylings out of the film like everyone assumes the Akira adaptation will do.

Not saying they won’t, but I have faith that if they are choosing these as source material, they will want to be faithful to it to some extent.

This project was shelved when Speilberg tried to roll the ball, so who knows if this has more legs or not.

I hope it does!

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41 Responses to “Dreamworks to Adapt Ghost in the Shell”

  1. SlashBeast says:

    Never liked the original manga and thought the anime movie sucked. But there were some good ideas. I loved the anime series though. I wouldn’t mind seing this made into a live action film.

    • Jake says:

      Do you watch it in the english dub? Conceivably, that could have something to do with why you didn’t enjoy it.

      • SlashBeast says:

        In fact, I did only watch the english dub. That may have largely been why. The voice acting was so dry.

  2. Billy Beane says:

    Ghost in the shell shouldn’t cost crazy money. The environments in the anime are very urban and not terribly futuristic. The only visuall effects would be the tank at the end and effects for a few scenes that showcase cyborgs.

  3. thematticus says:

    Anyone see a trend beginning to form? Anime movies will be the new Comic Book Movies. Soon we will have 2 or 3 a year.

    • cloud720 says:

      I don’t think so. Anime doesn’t have the same recognition as comic books. You don’t have to read an Iron man Thor Captain American comic book etc, to know who they are. Are there many well known animes out there?

      • SlashBeast says:

        Dragon Ball Z
        Pokemon
        Digimon

        Just few I can think of.

      • Jake says:

        Bleach. One Piece. Naruto. Mobile Suit Gundam. Dragonball Z. As for that last one, the show was poor in many areas, but it was a very, very influential comic. It really pushed comics and anime and directly influenced The Matrix. I think it’s even influenced today’s live-action TV in a number of ways. That or it was miles ahead and our TV just sort of caught up.

      • cloud720 says:

        That’s a few compared to all the comic book characters known by image and\or name

      • SlashBeast says:

        Dragon Ball Z was the MASTER of padding. However, I still love it to no end. It’s a crucial part of my childhood.

  4. Jeremy K. says:

    So I was extremely excited about the Blood: The Last Vampire movie adaptation into live action, but damned did I see a couple nights ago and was sorely disappointed.

    Despite that, three of my favorite anime movies (not including series) are Akira, Battle Angel Alita (Gunnm), and Ghost in the Shell (like the sequel a lot to), and I have high hopes for all these being adapted into live action. If they ended up sucking then oh well, still got the animes to keep me happy.

    • BernardG says:

      Totally with u in this one. Love Blood anime back then. So strikingly beautiful. Watching the movie adaptation though like being shot in the head. Totally dissapointed. The story dull, the acting bland, the characters miscast (especially Saya, somehow i don’t like the actress who playing it, something amiss about her), the CG looks cheap and forced. Hollywood once again let me down with such adaptation… So i’m not holding my breath out with recent news, even when high profile guy attached to it.

  5. bigsampson says:

    anime in to live action movies is a bad idea imo
    sure robotech will be decent looking do to what transformers did for robots…..but some films i dont see as epic as others…akira is cool but really the religious cult like way that normal citizens reacted to the the main characters was retarded and not something i expect most americans will get…ghost in the shell was decemt but in no way do i think the north american audience would buy it.

  6. NoName says:

    great anime series as for live action i dont know?

    Surrogates have some similar stuff from Ghost in the Shell.

  7. NoName says:

    If DreamWorks does it, than do not mess up like dragonball.

  8. hecticstairs says:

    I thought the Wachowski brothers already adapted this as THE MATRIX

    here’s the character breakdown:

    Trinity (matrix): The Major (GITS)
    Morpheus: Batou
    Neo: Batou’s pet dog/nothing, Keanu Reeves sucks

    Let’s not forget that GITS singlehandedly invented BULLETTIME special effects, nuff said.

    • SlashBeast says:

      “Bullettime” was invented far before Ghost in the Shell.

      • hecticstairs says:

        You’re right, bullettime was done before ghost in the shell, but the style that bullettime is presented with in the matrix is nalmost identic to it’s former, Ghost in the Shell.

    • hecticstairs says:

      And aside from bullettime the whole “living in a technological dreamworld where reality and digital crap converge into one big dystopian sweatlodge that features hot women and badass martial artists who wear the tiniest of frameless sunglasses (Batou did it while Morpheus was still a little human energyfarm toy)

  9. Iam Wright says:

    Have not read the original manga. From what I hear, it’s similar to Akira in the aspect that the movies and series was only part of a larger story. I loved both movies and enjoyed the series. This has a lot of promise for a live action adaptation and hope to see this happen.

  10. Toshio says:

    I dont think it will happen..they try to make live action Cowboy Beebop and looked what happened..

    • SlashBeast says:

      Keeanu Reeves?

    • Rodney says:

      And you have seen this film that hasn’t been made yet?

      Look at what? There is no movie yet.

      It may turn out to be the best movie ever but you are already writing it off?

      • Toshio says:

        Im just saying this movie is impossible to do financially, keanu reeves recently commented that Cowboy Beboop is too expensive to do and studios will not risk investing huge amount of money to do a movie like this…so I guess GITS will meet the same fate

      • Rodney says:

        Any movie is possible to do financially. They said LOTR couldnt be done either.

        That Reeves says so is hardly credit when people suspect he couldnt count to 20 with his shoes still on.

      • Toshio says:

        yeah..if they did go on with this i hope they dont messed this up like Dragonball…animes like Akira and GITS have very complex storyline and a live-action adaptation like Watchmen would be enough for me

  11. Billy Beane says:

    Would love to see Darren Arnofksy take on this. Make this his first big Commercial studio picture.

  12. JeffGrey says:

    I feel sick.

  13. Geno says:

    Now is this film going to be based off the anime movie or the manga? I had to watch the anime a couple of times to get the idea of what was going on and enjoyed it. I tried to read the manga once and visually I enjoyed it but for some reason could not get into it.
    I think one anime that could transition well into a live action comedic action sci fi film would be “Trigun”, loved the series and the manga. That would be awesome if they made a live action film on that.

  14. Gigan300 says:

    Just fucking great(sarcasm). Another classic anime film that Hollywood wants to butcher. Did they not learn from “Speed Racer”, “Dragonball Evolution”, or “Astro Boy”?

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