Film News: Live action Ghost In The Shell plans revealed; first look at James Franco's Child of God

THE RUMOUR MILL: GHOST IN THE SHELL, WONDER WOMAN, TARANTINO'S THE HATEFUL EIGHT LATEST, TERMINATOR: GENESIS, STAR WARS VII
The legendary japanese Manga created by Masamune Shirow, Ghost In the Shell, is the latest Japanese anime to be selected for the live-action Hollywood remake treatment, Deadline reports. The elaborate and far-reaching series, which began life as a comic before becoming an anime with multiple sequels, deals with artificial intelligence and machine consciousness. The story follows fictional counter-cyberterrorist organization Public Security Section 9. Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) is tipped for the director's chair, with the film under the wing of Spielberg's DreamWorks production house. 

Superheroes: we already know that Gal Gadot will play Wonder Woman in the forthcoming Batman Vs. Superman, but it has now been confirmed that Gadot has signed on for the role in not one but three planned productions. Batman News reports that Gadot will reprise her role in the sequel, with the planned title Justice League, and in a stand-alone Wonder Woman film. 

Last week it was reported widely that Quentin Tarantino had shelved plans for The Hateful Eight, his next film project, also a western like Django Unchained. Now The Wrap reports that Tarantino had planned to shoot the film on 70mm film stock, and that the story focused on two bounty hunters terrorising a small town, possibly played by Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Madsen.

Speaking to Deadline last week, Tarantino intimated that one of the actors he was considering for a role in the film had leaked it to his agent, who had subsequently leaked the script to the rest of Hollywood. "I’m very, very depressed. I finished a script, a first draft, and I didn’t mean to shoot it until next winter, a year from now," said the Pulp Fiction director. "I gave it to six people, and apparently it’s gotten out... I don’t know how these fucking agents work, but I’m not making this next. I’m going to publish it, and that’s it for now. I give it out to six people, and if I can’t trust them to that degree, then I have no desire to make it. I’ll publish it. I’m done. I’ll move on to the next thing. I’ve got 10 more where that came from."

Also hitting a snag en route to the screen this week is the rebooted, re-Arniefied Terminator franchise. Terminator: Genesis has lost backing from Annapurna Pictures, but will still be funded by Skydance productions and distributors Paramount, according to Deadline. Emilia Clarke and Jason Clarke have signed on as Sarah and John Connor respectively (the actors are not related). 

Finally, some confirmation at last of those long-debated Star Wars VII casting rumours – none other than Carrie 'Princess Leia' Fisher has confirmed that she, Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill will all reprise their iconic roles from the original trilogy in the forthcoming J.J. Abrams-helmed movie. Speaking to TV Guide, Fisher commented on her love for Leia's classic 'cinnamon bun' hairdo: "I'd like to wear my old hairstyle again – but with white hair," she said. "I think that would be funny." Harrison Ford, meanwhile, is simply glad to be getting his on-screen family back. 

TRAILERS: CHILD OF GOD, THE STRAIN
Child of God sees James Franco take on an adaptation of the novel by Cormac McCarthy (The Road, No Country For Old Men), an ambitious step for Franco as a director – he also takes a small role in the drama about the descent into a kind of feral, survivalist madness undergone by Lester Ballard, played by Scott Haze. 

The next project from visionary director Guillermo Del Toro (Pacific Rim, Pan's Labyrinth) is The Strain, a TV show that places vampirism at the centre of a new pandemic sweeping the United States. Here's a 30-second teaser. It's brought to you by FX, the channel behind hit show The Walking Dead.