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Scarlett Johansson as The Major
Among the new trailers debuting during Super Bowl LI is one for Paramount Pictures' English-language, live-action remake of the beloved Japanese manga Ghost in the Shell. The film, directed by Snow White and the Huntsman's Rupert Sanders, stars Scarlett Johansson as The Major, the main character in Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell. She is a cyborg and commander of the fictional Japanese National Public Safety Commission. In the new film, she and her task force are chosen to stop an enemy trying to sabotage Hanka Robotics.
The Ghost in the Shell franchise launched as a manga in 1989, then became an anime movie in 1995. That film was followed by 2004's Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence and a reboot series called Ghost in the Shell: Arise that aired in 2015.
Johansson's casting in the lead role of a property that originated in Japan sparked plenty of controversy when it was announced and again when the first image of her in the film. When the first trailer was unveiled in Tokyo last year, Sanders defended the casting. "There are very few actresses with 20 years' experience who have the cyberpunk ethic already baked in. I stand by my decision — she's the best actress of her generation," Sanders told the media.
Click through to meet the rest of the cast before Ghost in the Shell opens on March 31, 2017. (Getty)