Ghost in the Shell

In a parallel universe where Paramount Pictures doesn’t alienate its fanbase, we might be talking about Ghost in the Shell as the big winner of this weekend and the de facto start of a new wave of Japanese Hollywood adaptations. Instead, DreamWorks Animation and The Boss Baby blew up the box office, no doubt delighting a handful of DreamWorks executives who watched the Ghost in the Shell controversy unfold with glasses of champagne in hand. After all, nobody’s going to boycott a movie about a baby who wears a suit.

2016 is almost over! Hallelujah! With everything that’s happened in the last 12 months, we can’t wait to rip the last page of our 2016 Spider-Man wall calendar and hang up our 2017 Spider-Man wall calendar.

December is officially upon us, and so is year-end list-making season. We’re kicking things off by looking backwards and forwards: By ranking the finest teasers, trailers, and coming attractions of 2016. To qualify, only the trailer had to be released in this calendar year; you’ll see trailers below for movies that haven’t even been released yet and can’t be judged next to the films they represent. That’s as it should be; beyond their function as pieces of advertising, trailers should stand alone, as bite-sized entertainments and even, in a few rare occasions, as works of art. Here are the ten trailers of 2016 (plus a few honorable mentions) that came closest to that lofty ideal.

If you’ll remember, a few months ago we broke the news that Ghost in the Shell producers had tested visual effects that would make the Caucasian members of their upcoming film adaptation appear Asian. Multiple independent sources confirmed that this was part of an attempt to “shift the ethnicity” of lead actress Scarlett Johansson in post-production. The news went over about as well as you would expect.

The last time we heard from DreamWorks' planned live action adaptation of 'Ghost in the Shell,' the studio was courting 'The Wolf of Wall Street' star Margot Robbie for the lead role. Now, things have changed and a bigger name has been thrown into the mix: Scarlett Johansson, aka, Black Widow, aka, 'Lucy,' aka, the most bankable female action star of the moment.