The live-action remake of the of the 1995 Japanese anime classic hits screens in North America on March 31, but it’s unclear if it will get a coveted day-an-date release in China.
Paramount declined to comment to China Film Insider about the apparent impending Chinese release, but the studio is clearly gearing up for an announcement.
A Chinese edition movie poster and a trailer for the film featuring Chinese character subtitles and an official Weibo hashtag was posted by the official Paramount Weibo account
But fans are already questioning whether the film will undergo any cuts by the country’s censors, who have been busy of late chopping imported Hollywood films down to size.
Resident Evil was cut seven minutes and Logan was cut 14 minutes,” wrote one Weibo user. “Does that mean Ghost In The Shell will be cut 21 minutes?”
On Wednesday it was revealed that marketing material for Fox’s Logan was required under the country’s new film law to carry a parental warning despite already having 14 minutes cut from the film.
Ghost In The Shell has not received a Motion Picture Association of America rating yet, and marketing material released so far has yet to reveal enough to suggest whether a PG-13 or R-rating is likely.
A shot-for-shot recreation of the 1995 cyberpunk anime’s iconic opening sequence, shown at a press event in Japan shows the film’s cyborg hero, played by Scarlett Johansson, nearly nude.
The original 1995 anime was given an R-rating in North America due to its violence and animated nudity.
Based on the internationally-acclaimed sci-fi property, Ghost In The Shell follows the Major, a special operations, one-of-a-kind human-cyborg hybrid, who leads an elite counter-cyberterrorism squad tasked with capturing a hacker who can infiltrate minds and alter memories.
It was shot in New Zealand as well as Hong Kong, Macau, and Shanghai. The film also stars Michael Pitt, Juliette Binoche, Lasarus Ratuere, and Japanese comedian/actor Takeshi Kitano.