Paramount Releases Opening Scene from ‘Ghost in the Shell’
With just over a week until the opening of the live action remake of Ghost in the Shell, Paramount has released the opening scene online. Perhaps in the hopes of winning over skeptics, who decry the movie both as unnecessary and an example of whitewashing, the scene plays out more or less exactly like the opening of the iconic anime film. As released, it feels a bit like we’re still missing a few moments, which would make sense—it’s more of an extended preview than a sneak peek. While it admittedly does look pretty cool, the question of necessity has yet to be put to bed. As it stands, it doesn’t yet seem as though the remake has brought anything new to the table to justify its existence, and rather comes across as a cover song that doesn’t bother changing anything about the track. If you can’t bring anything new what’s the point? We’ll have to wait and see until the film opens, I guess. Ghost in the Shell hits theaters on March 31.
(Paramount)
Live Action Remake of ‘Death Note’ Releases First Trailer
Speaking of live action anime remakes that spark the discussion of white washing, Netflix unveiled the first trailer for Death Note, based on the wildly popular manga/anime series from Japan. Director Adam Wingard (Blair Witch) brings the story to American shores with Nat Wolff (The Fault in Our Stars) as a boy who finds a mysterious book that causes the death of any name written inside of it. There’s an undeniable style to the trailer that bodes well for the upcoming film, though whether it can overcome the preconceptions of the fan base is still up in the air. Death Note premieres August 25 on Netflix.
(Netflix)
Get Your First Look at ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’ Reboot
Netflix also gave us our first glimpse at their upcoming reboot of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Be calmed, nerds. Everything appears to be in order. Endearingly awful set design? Check. Robots? Check. Bad movies? Check. I suppose it’s possible it’ll still be awful, but with the amount of talent on board that seems more and more like an impossibility. Is it April 14 yet?
(Netflix)
Michael Shannon in Consideration for ‘Deadpool 2’
Michael Shannon hasn’t quite given up on superhero movies. After making a, um, splash as Zod (and later Doomsday) in the DC universe, there’s a chance he’ll jump over to Marvel for Deadpool 2. Fox has confirmed that Shannon is the current front runner to play the time traveling mutant Cable in the sequel to last year’s surprise comic book hit, potentially joining Ryan Reynolds and Zazie Beetz when filming begins this summer. Though not a done deal just yet (David Harbour from Stranger Things is still supposedly under consideration) Shannon would bring some increased star power to the project, and his comedic chops give him a leg up. Hard to imagine how Cable can be presented as funny, but everyone needs a straight man and Shannon would be damn near perfect as the straight man against Reynolds. Will this pan out? Seems likely but we’ll have to just wait and see.
(THR)
