Variety reports that Spielberg and Dreamworks have acquired the rights to the popular japanese manga series “Ghost in the Shell”.

The story follows the exploits of a member of a covert ops unit of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission that specializes in fighting technology-related crime.

Created by Masamune Shirow, “Ghost in the Shell” was first published in 1989. It went on to generate two additional manga editions, three anime film adaptations, an anime TV series and three videogames. The second anime film, “Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence,” was released in the U.S. by DreamWorks in 2004.

The article mentions Dreamworks is planning on making it a 3-D live action feature film. Avi Arad, who previously produced all the ‘Spiderman’ and ‘X-Men’ films and is currently on ‘Iron Man’ and ‘The Incredible Hulk’, is on the project as producer.