Dreamworks Acquires Rights for Ghost in the Shell 405
Anonymous GiTS fan noted a Variety story informing us that DreamWorks has acquired the rights to Ghost in the Shell and has plans to produce a "3D Live Action" version of the popular anime. This happened apparently because Spielberg is a fan. He says "'Ghost in the Shell' is one of my favorite stories ... It's a genre that has arrived, and we enthusiastically welcome it to DreamWorks." I hope they add a talking donkey.
Ambivelant about this (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Plot Feel (Score:5, Informative)
Re:sigh... (Score:4, Informative)
Those are the ones which seem to have actually been able to understand the material and do it well.
There could actually be some hope for this if they get a production team who is capable of being true to the material and writing a good story.
Cheers
Re:they better do naruto next (Score:5, Informative)
A Dragon Ball movie is already on the works, set to be released in 2009.
IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1098327/ [imdb.com]
Leaked photos: http://themovingpicture.net/new-dragonball-set-photos [themovingpicture.net]
Re:Audience like me (Score:5, Informative)
Just an FYI for future reference, the manga was released between 1989-1991, and the trade made it's appearence in English in 1995. The first movie (which covers a small part of the storyline in the Manga, and is VERY different in both tone and style) came out in 1995.
The Matrix, if I'm not mistaken, came out in 1999.
Re:Good idea? Spielberg??? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Plot Feel (Score:4, Informative)
Well, the original movie really was not like Shirow's style at all - the manga does not have that surreal "Twilight Zone" feel in the slightest. It's very dense and packed with info and it's one of those graphic novels where you've got to sort of immerse yourself in this world that he's created and consider all the problems we're going to come up against in the future and that's what makes it interesting.
Oshii's film is interesting in a totally different way, in that it's less about the world itself and more about this larger question of what life actually is. The world is only really featured as much as it needs to be to support that question and present arguments. That question was there in the manga too, but it was just one of many issues the manga raised. Oshii boiled down the manga to what he thought was the central question, and he stripped everything out that he thought got in the way of that. And that's what left him room to sort of explore the inner workings of the characters a little bit more and create that surrealness, which of course only served to support the theme too.
The second movie, though, was terrible. That was more like masturbation on Oshii's part. I don't think I've ever seen a sci-fi film that's more slowly paced... and that includes 2001: a Space Odyssey (which Oshii clearly uses for inspiration).
Whenever somebody talks about doing a new adaptation of GitS, the question is always whether they'll adapt the manga or the original film. I personally think the manga is basically unfilmable (as a standalone feature film) and whatever film is made then has to basically do what Oshii did and take one element out and focus on that. Maybe there's a different element that can be pulled out than the original film did, but I don't think Shirow's manga can ever really be boiled down to a 2 hour movie. It's probably a mistake to try, and luckily Oshii saw that and made something original and unique on its own. Hopefully Spielberg is that smart.
Re:It will suck (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Plot Feel (Score:5, Informative)
The movies are
Ghost in the shell
GiTS2 Innocence
GiTS Solid State Society
The TV shows are GITS SAC 1 and 2 respectively, and at least as good as the first movie when taken as a complete set.
Re:Audience like me (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.mig81.com/matrixgits/ [mig81.com]
EXCELLENT comparison of The Matrix and the first Ghost in the Shell movie.
Graphic Novel (Score:5, Informative)
They are all good, but then again I am avid fan of Motoko. If you get the chance then I highly recommend getting the graphic novels, since not only is the artwork amazing, the stories are good and seeing all the little comments Masamune Shirow puts in really helps understand some stuff.
Holllywood idea shortage (Score:4, Informative)
The idea shortage in Hollywood continues. As Harper's pointed out, more than half of the top-grossing movies of 2007 were sequels where N > 2.
Cartoon (not comic) to live action translation hasn't been that great. "Boris and Natasha: The Movie" (1992) was something of a flop, as was "Dudly Do-Right" (1999). A third try, "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle" (2000) was a dud, too, although it was at least funny. "Underdog" (2007) is the most recent dud.
"The Flintstones" (1994) was one of the few successes. "Casper" (1995) was a success, mainly because CG animation had become good enough to be used convincingly with live actors. Those had the novelty of a cartoon as live action. But that's been done now, and the novelty has worn off.
Comic books have been a more fruitful source of material, enough so that Marvel now has its own movie studio.
Re:Plot Feel (Score:3, Informative)
Ghost in the shell
GITS2 Innocence
And then following the GITS:SAC TV series' there are three more "movies" that are compilations of episodes with possibly some new scenes:
GITS:SAC The Laughing Man
GITS:SAC Solid State Society
GITS:SAC 2nd GIG Individual Eleven