‘Ghost in the Shell’ First Footage: Scarlett Johansson Is on the Hunt (Videos)

Paramount kicks off marketing of remake with five weird and intriguing short teasers

The live-action remake of the “Ghost in the Shell” anime may have caught a lot of flack for its casting choices, but it’s full speed ahead even so. And on Wednesday, Paramount released five short, cryptic teasers during the season finale of “Mr. Robot.”

The teasers, which can be viewed at the top of this post in the embedded playlist or on Paramount’s YouTube channel, feature Scarlett Johansson as the Major in several of them and Japanese star Takeshi Kitano pops up as well.

“Ghost in the Shell” tells a futuristic sci-fi story in which a law-enforcement task force, led by Johansson’s Major, does battle with criminal hackers. But it’s much weirder than that description would indicate — it is, after all, an adaptation of an anime.

Earlier this year, the production came under fire from fans who were upset that Johansson was cast as the Major, whose name in the anime movie and TV series is Motoko Kusanagi. The furor was about Asian characters being whitewashed with white actors, a common phenomenon in Hollywood and considered to be particularly egregious with “Ghost in the Shell” because the anime is so beloved.

“Ghost in the Shell” is being directed by Rupert Sanders (“Snow White and the Huntsman”) and is headed to theaters in 2017.

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