Dreamwork's GHOST IN THE SHELL Moves to Director Rupert Sanders

I was REALLY hoping Steven Spielberg himself would helm this 3D project and now I'm not sure it will retain stereoscopic 3D at all. GHOST IN THE SHELL remains at Dreamworks so I'm hopeful. The project has been passed over to Rupert Sanders (SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN) and while I like his style - what can I say, he's not Spielberg. That's not an insult by the way.

GITS is now being adapted and written by William Wheeler, but Laeta Kalogridis (SHUTTER ISLAND, AVATAR) was also involved back in 2009 and may still have her touch on the project. She is now working on TERMINATOR: GENESIS along with my pal Patrick Lussier (DRIVE ANGRY, MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D).

Here's a brief description of the original story's background:
Ghost in the Shell is a futuristic police thriller dealing with 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. She may be named after one of the three Imperial Regalia of Japan and Shirow makes reference to them at the end of the second manga. Although supposedly equal to all other members, Kusanagi fills the leadership role in the team, and is usually referred to as "the Major" due to her past rank in the armed forces. She 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.

So yeah, I was looking forward to seeing a Spielberg directed GHOST IN THE SHELL go up against a James Cameron directed BATTLE ANGEL at the box office. Wow that would have been jaw dropping. But with BATTLE ANGEL delayed until at least the AVATARs are out of the way and marketed and Spielberg stepping back from GITS, it won't happen. Oh well. At least these projects are dead. To the contrary they're brimming with life so that's the silver lining. APHRODITE IX was another female cyborg project that was floating around that hopefully will someday see projector light.

Producers Avi and Ari Avid are still attached as well as Steven Paul. Lots of muscle there to get the job done obviously. Let's hope native 3D sticks to this project!

Stay tuned for more info when I get it!

Source: Deadline