There is a serious lack of female-driven blockbuster fare at the movie theaters these days. Slowly but surely, however, that appears to maybe be changing. Warner Bros. and Marvel Studios are developing Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel respectively, the Hunger Games franchise will dominate the box office one last time this fall, and Frozen brought female-driven storytelling to younger audiences.

That said, the number of actresses that studios are willing to bank on to lead their blockbuster films is sadly small, with only a handful of names landing on those kinds of shortlists. Scarlett Johansson is one of them, not only proving successful as Black Widow in the Marvel films, but also as the lead of last year’s original actioner Lucy. It was not surprise, then, when DreamWorks tapped the actress to lead its action-centric Ghost in the Shell movie, based on the manga/anime of the same name.

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Image via Marvel Studios

Johansson officially signed on to star this past January with Snow White and the Huntsman helmer Rupert Sanders directing, and so when Steve sat down with the actress at the Avengers: Age of Ultron press day, he asked for an update on the project:

“It’s happening. It will be shooting the beginning of next year, so I think we start production January or February and it’s me and Rupert [Sanders]; and that’s all I know.”

The studio has been developing a live-action iteration of the property for nearly six years now, so this is the closest it's come to actually happening. And according to Johansson, if all goes according to plan, cameras will be rolling on the new Ghost in the Shell movie by this time next year.


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Image via Universal Pictures