Produced by Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Steven Paul and with the backing of Steven Spielberg, the rights to Shirow’s original 1989 complex futuristic thriller about the members of a covert ops unit that takes on technology-related crime were picked up several years ago with plans to use the latest 3D technology to film it. In Japan, the huge success of the comics led to a number of anime film adaptations, a TV series and a series of video games with DreamWorks releasing the second anime film in North America.
It’s not yet determined whether Sanders might tackle Ghost in the Shell next since he has a number of other projects lined up, including 90 Church for Universal, a Napoleon Bonaparte movie at Warner Bros., a film called Juliet with Sony and New Regency, as well as an adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s thriller The Kill List.
