The Hollywood Reporter reported on Friday that Jonathan Herman ( Straight Outta Compton ) is on board to rework the script of Dreamworks and Paramount's live-action Ghost in the Shell film.

William Wheeler ( Hoax, The Reluctant Fundamentalist ) and Jamie Moss ( Street Kings ) wrote earlier drafts of the script.

Scarlett Johansson (The Avengers, Lucy, Lost in Translation) signed on to star in this adaptation of Masamune Shirow's manga, and Rupert Sanders ( Snow White and the Huntsman ) will direct. Deadline reported earlier this year that Johansson was offered US$10 million for the role.

Dreamworks and Paramount are co-financing and co-producing the film. Paramount will handle the international release of the film and Dreamworks will handle the release per its original deal with Disney.

The film is set to open on March 31, 2017. Filming will begin in Wellington, New Zealand in January 2016.

Disney initially scheduled its release of the live-action film for April 14, 2017, but announced its plans to push forward the release in April. Disney's Touchstone Pictures banner has been distributing Dreamworks films since 2009.

The anime studio Production I.G pitched the rights for Masamune Shirow's original cyber-police manga on behalf of the manga's publisher Kodansha in 2007, and DreamWorks acquired the live-action film rights in 2008. Avi Arad (formerly of Marvel Studios as well as of the Spider-Man and X-Men movie franchises), Seaside Entertainment's Steven Paul, and Mark Sourian ( The Ring Two ) are producing.