Spielberg’s DreamWorks studio has acquired the rights to the Japanese animated science fiction classic Ghost in the Shell, a cyberpunk police thriller that tells the story of Motoko Kusanagi, a member of Section 9, a covert section of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission. Section 9 specializes in fighting technology-related crime.

"Ghost in the Shell is one of my favourite stories," Spielberg told Variety, "It's a genre that has arrived, and we enthusiastically welcome it to DreamWorks".

This is excellent news for fans of 3D and science fiction alike.

Ghost in the Shell's setting is cyberpunk, similar to that found in William Gibson's novels Neuromancer (1984), Count Zero (1986) and Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988).

First released as a manga comic book by Masamune Shirow in 1989, Ghost in the Shell has already spawned two additional manga editions, three animated movie adaptations, an animated TV series, and three video games. The second animated movie, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, was released by DreamWorks in 2004, which makes sense given Spielberg’s enthusiasm for the original story. Apparently Spielberg had to fight off Universal and Sony for the adaptation rights.

Masamune Shirow's work delves into the ethical and philosophical ramifications of merging humans with technology, artificial intelligence, corporate dominance, and the true nature of human identity.

Inspired by James Cameron's upcoming science fiction epic Avatar, Spielberg is already an advocate of 3D movie technology, teaming up recently with Peter Jackson to create a trilogy of 3D movies based on the famous Belgian book series The Adventures of Tin Tin. Hopefully, like Zemeckis' 3D Beowulf released last year, these upcoming 3D movies will give the movie going public another reason to leave their living rooms and step into the cincema. Beowulf was the most visually stunning movie I've ever seen.

There's no official release date for Ghost in the Shell, but we're likely to see a Tin Tin movie first, as they've already started selecting the cast for the first part of the trilogy.