GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.

Ghost in the Shell Movie Teaser Features Invisible Cyborg Scarlett Johansson

Major Teaser.

8 Comments

The first full trailer for the live-action adaptation of anime classic Ghost in the Shell is set to be released at the weekend. Ahead of that we have a short teaser that features all-new footage from the upcoming cyberpunk thriller. Check it out below:

The film is due for release on March 31, 2017. It stars Scarlett Johansson as the Major, a cyborg who leads a futuristic anti-terrorist taskforce known as Section 9, and also features Game of Thrones' Pilou Asbæk, Takeshi Kitano, Juliette Binoche, and Michael Pitt. The first teasers were released in September--watch them here.

In Japan, the Ghost in the Shell franchise comprises a variety of movies, series, and comic books. Last week the film's producer Avi Arad revealed that the villain would be Kuze, who appeared in the series Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig, as opposed to Puppet Master from the first anime movie.

"We're not doing Puppet Master. It's not Laughing Man. It involves Kuze," he told Collider. "The big thing we are doing here is that we're not necessarily doing an origins backstory, but we are addressing [the Major]'s sense of self and resolving how she defines herself in terms of memories. That's one of the main thrusts in the story. Inspired by [the episode] "Affection" in 2nd Gig. It's bits and pieces of those mixed together.

Arad went on to explain that fans would nevertheless notice elements from other Ghost in the Shell releases in the film. "You'll recognize some things from Ghost in the Shell: Innocence like the geisha bot," he said. "Everything we pulled from the movie is because we thought it was cool. There's a whole thermoptic sequence with the garbageman. We did that because we thought it was really cool."

Ghost in the Shell was one of the key anime films to break through to a western audience during the 1990s. It was created by Masamune Shirow and began as a manga series in 1989.

The popularity of the manga led to four anime movies, the latest of which, Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie, was released last year. There have also been a number of video games.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

Join the conversation
There are 8 comments about this story