Ghost in the Shell was one of the many, many 2017 blockbusters to roll out new footage during last weekend’s Super Bowl LI (see: The Fate of the Furious, Transformers: The Last Knight, and more), but if sources close to Trailer Track are to be believed, Paramount had originally planned to unveil a full-length promo for Rupert Sanders’ live-action manga movie just prior to the annual sporting event, only to pull said trailer at the eleventh hour.
Fast forward three weeks and change and TT is reporting that the new – and likely final – full trailer for Ghost in the Shell will be with us on Monday, February 13th, and a tantalizing new TV spot is here to drum up excitement. Embedded above, the promo in question features much of the footage seen during the film’s Super Bowl stinger, with the marketing campaign continuing to draw attention to Scarlett Johansson’s missing (stolen?) identity.
ScarJo will anchor Ghost in the Shell as Major Motoko Kusanagi – or The Major for short – a one-of-a-kind human-cyborg hybrid and the flagship product of Hanka Robotics. The casting of the former Avengers star has proved contentious, and earlier today, Johansson offered up her own two cents regarding those whitewashing claims. Spoilers: Johansson stressed that she “would never presume to play another race of a person. Diversity is important in Hollywood, and I would never want to feel like I was playing a character that was offensive. Also, having a franchise with a female protagonist driving it is such a rare opportunity.”
On March 31st, Scarlett Johansson will finally take point as Paramount’s Ghost in the Shell. It’s the first major manga-inspired tentpole to grace these shores in quite some time, and will soon be followed by Adam Wingard’s Death Note movie and Alita: Battle Angel, which just added Jennifer Connelly to its stacked ensemble.
