Next to Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira, a movie that Warner Bros. has been trying to turn into a live action epic for a long time, Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell may be one of the most known Japanese Manga comics and Anime films outside of Japan, and DreamWorks seems to be ready to move forward with the idea of doing a live action version of the Japanese cyberpunk cartoon after years of trying to make it happen. According to Deadline, DreamWorks has made a deal with Rupert Sanders, director of Snow White and the Huntsman, to help bring the sci-fi police thriller to life from a script by William Wheeler.

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.