• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Ghost in the Shell bombs at the box office

Status
Not open for further replies.
H

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Paramount won't learn anything from this, just look at the deflection and denial from Colligan.

I hope it bombs internationally as well, so we can put this "star power" nonsense to rest.
 
S

shintoki

sparkle this bitch
What Hollywood should learn
-Diversity is good for films.
-Not all films need large budgets,
-Focus on making a good film first with a strong script.

What Hollywood will learn
-Female leads are bad
-Stop adapting from Anime source material.
-Double down on known properties
 
T

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
I have no plans to watch Iron Fist, but only because it looks bad and was poorly reviewed.
 
andythinkpad

andythinkpad

Member
The script for this movie is so bad I don't even want a sequel.

I don't hate it like I hated Pacific Rim though, so that's that.
 
O

Oxn

Member
marrec said:
They set expectations properly too. Budget set lower, marketing targets the right mood, and they know about how much they'll make.

They set out to make this movie a summer blockbuster, out of a mediocre 90s anime, how's that EVER a good idea?
Click to expand...

Its not, like i said the source wasnt even good or popular to begin with.

People have a warped idea on here that gits is a banker name.

Plus the movie in itself looked boring as hell.
 
formasymphonic

formasymphonic

Member
And critics weren't inclined to give the film a free pass. Paramount could tell by the Google searches it was monitoring that in the final week before the film opened, potential moviegoers were checking out reviews before making a decision in higher than usual numbers.

Initially, the film's Rotten Tomatoes score rose as high as 71 percent positive reviews, based on the first enthusiastic fanboy reactions and critiques from Europe. But as the week progressed and more reviews poured in, the movie's score began to plummet, eventually falling to 42 percent. Ghost's tracking, which initially suggested the film might open in the high-$20 million range, maybe even cross over into low-$30 million territory, hit a wall.
Click to expand...

This part was also pretty interesting to me. If it becomes a trend, then expect to see more films lack critic screenings before launch.
 
F

ferr

Member
The Artisan said:
so he whitewashed a role to get a high profile actor in it. does that make it okay?
Click to expand...

I think something got mixed up in the whitewashing argument here. There are cases where a movie maker is taking artistic liberties to imprint his own vision on source material. And then there are cases like ALOHA.
 
T

timetokill

Banned
Didn't review highly enough. I am probably the target audience for this and the reviews made me just want to wait until it's on Netflix or Amazon Prime.
 
H

haimon

Member
I doubt the movie would have been made without scarjo. Don't really care that it bombs since I have never seen the manga and my wife saw the trailer and wants to see it.

Hope it's good enough to be a fun date night.
 
B

border

Member
Maybe they should have cast Milla Jovovich as The Major?

The Resident Evil movies regularly do 200 million in foreign box office.
 
J

jack_package_200

Banned
TAJ said:
I have no plans to watch Iron Fist, but only because it looks bad and was poorly reviewed.
Click to expand...

Its super awful. While it might have been better with anyone other Finn Jones, the writing, pacing, and direction are so so awful.

Also fuck Finn Jones. He blamed the crew for bad choreography.
 
O

Oxn

Member
Warcraft didnt review well, didnt have big names and still made hundreds of mill. Also movie sucked ass as well.
 
F

Floex

Member
border said:
Trailers were just too vague, generic, and uninteresting. The premise and focus of the film was just weird and unclear. The effects and action sequences they teased were pretty by-the-numbers (though the stripper pole fight did seem interesting).

Mainstream audiences does not give 2 fucks about whitewashing. It's weird to see people try and pin the film's failure on that.
Click to expand...

See, this is just odd to say. I think people started to believe this could be good BECUASE of the trailers. I think when it came out the film was pretty average turned even the hardcore away.
 
J

jWILL253

Banned
Einchy said:
Stop what? He's right.

Whitewashing is an issue and hopefully it will stop but lets not pretend like the average movie goers cares about whitewashing or even knows it's a thing.
Click to expand...

And how the hell would you or him/her even know that?

All we have is the information regarding the film and its larger reception by critics and consumers alike up to and since theatrical release. And since the reception by said critics have all mentioned the whitewashing in great detail, and as the OP mentioned, people are actually checking those reviews on RT before buying tickets, it's safe to assume that people buying the tickets at least had an idea of the film's controversy around the casting.

EDIT: Lol, my phone AutoCorrected RT to TV.
 
M

MattKeil

BIGTIME TV MOGUL #2
jWILL253 said:
For anyone that has seen the original GitS, it probably translates a lot better to a live action adaptation than most anime.

The failure of this film has nothing to do with the source material. It has everything to do with the controversy surrounding it, which has created bad press from the moment the casting was announced. Not a single ounce of positive press.

Stop blaming the source material. Not like the film is based on GitS Arise. But even if it was, that wouldn't change the fact that ScarJo is playing a Japanese woman inside a White body. The controversy caused this to fall, not anime adaptations as a whole.
Click to expand...

The fact that it's a mediocre film at best that's more of a regurgitation of Robocop than an adaptation of GitS probably doesn't help, either. Even without the whitewashing problem, word of mouth would have resulted in a lukewarm opening. With it, you get a crater.
 
Z..

Z..

Member
Oxn said:
What am i being dimisive about? I said the original anime movie sucks, and it does.
Click to expand...

Well, it's a highly respected film in film communities for a reason, my friend. My whole point is that it in no way sucks. It's a roaring triumph of modern cinema and highly refelctive of it's influences. Try watching Stalker and see if you like it. I'm betting you'll think it sucks too. In other words, I believe you did not comprehend the film you watched. It sucks because you don't have the grammar to appreciate it. It turned a dumb sci fi manga into a beautiful essay on identity and the dawn of the übermensch.
 
T

The Artisan

Member
ferr said:
I think something got mixed up in the whitewashing argument here. There are cases where a movie maker is taking artistic liberties to imprint his own vision on source material. And then there are cases like ALOHA.
Click to expand...
I get that but the liberties Nolan made with Ra's didn't enrich the character's profile. DKR implied he was from some Middle Eastern country with all the deshi basara shit, the phrase originally is Arabic.

so either way you spin it, Nolan either took the liberty of making the character white by casting Liam, or had Liam portraying a Arab-British character.

if i understand the term "whitewash" correctly, both ideas apply as that

edit: and same thing goes for Bane, who's half Latino in the comics - Nolan's vision doesn't portray as such but whatever reason for that is doesn't seem to make his version of him, any better.
 
T

TheRagnCajun

Member
I thought the controversy over whitewashing was largely exaggerated.

I don't think this was about it being based on an anime either.

I think the trailers, although beautiful, portrayed this movie as being very derivative. Essentially another Robocop. You would have never have guessed that GitS is actually the precursor to many other movies that have explored the same themes of humanity, robots, and consciousness. Judging by the reviews, it seems that the 2017 movie doesn't really do it justice either. (I haven't seen it yet)

So we have a beautiful action movie featuring ScarJo in a skin-tight outfit with no other comparable action movies showing and that wasn't enough to draw people in. I think people didn't understand what it was or care enough to find out. It just wasn't that interesting coming from trailers/reviews.
 
K

kswiston

Member
The Artisan said:
lemme get this straight...superman is an alien, but his creators were white Americans so his adaptations almost always depict him as white.

goku is an alien, his creator as Asian but his adaptation should be white anyways?
Click to expand...

Goku is not the best example, since Dragonball "Earth" isn't our Earth. It's ruled by the King of Earth, and there aren't individual countries. Still, the American version got ripped apart for casting Justin Chatwin as Goku.
 
A

Anung

Un Rama
I can't wait for the twist in Akira that Espers were created to transfer Asian consciousness's into white peoples bodies.

Also It's now A.K.I.R.A and stands for 'Asian Knowledge Is Replaced with Albinism'

Also Akira is a cloud now and played by Jonah Hill.
 
O

Oxn

Member
Z.. said:
Well, it's a highly respected film in film communities for a reason, my friend. My whole point is that it in no way sucks. It's a roaring triumph of modern cinema and highly refelctive of it's influences. Try watching Stalker and see if you like it. I'm betting you'll think it sucks too. In other words, I believe you did not comprehend the film you watched. It sucks because you don't have the grammar to appreciate it. It turned a dumb sci fi manga into a beautiful essay on identity and the dawn of the übermensch.
Click to expand...

Haha. Wow way to attack my intelligence because i didnt like a try hard movie that thinks its smarter than it really is.
 
A

Anung

Un Rama
I can't wait for the twist in Akira that Espers were created to transfer Asian consciousness's into white peoples bodies. Hence the explosion at the start turning everyone into famous bankable white actors.

Also It's now A.K.I.R.A and stands for 'Asian Knowledge Is Replaced with Albinism'

Also Akira is a cloud now and played by Jonah Hill.
 
E

ElBoxyBrown

Banned
kswiston said:
Goku is not the best example, since Dragonball "Earth" isn't our Earth. It's ruled by the King of Earth, and there aren't individual countries. Still, the American version got ripped apart for casting Justin Chatwin as Goku.
Click to expand...

Goku is also based on the Monkey King which is rooted in Chinese mythology.
 
A

Arjayes

Banned
The Artisan said:
lemme get this straight...superman is an alien, but his creators were white Americans so his adaptations almost always depict him as white.

goku is an alien, his creator as Asian but his adaptation should be white anyways?
Click to expand...
Aren't there Asian and Black adaptations of Superman?
 
M

marrec

Banned
jWILL253 said:
And how the hell would you or him/her even know that?

All we have is the information regarding the film and its larger reception by critics and consumers alike up to and since theatrical release. And since the reception by said critics have all mentioned the whitewashing in great detail, and as the OP mentioned, people are actually checking those reviews on TV before buying tickets, it's safe to assume that people buying the tickets at least had an idea of the film's controversy around the casting.
Click to expand...

Look at where all these reviewers mention the Whitewashing:

miKL3u5.png


It's especially evident in the Critics Consensus:

"Critics Consensus: Ghost in the Shell boasts cool visuals and a compelling central performance from Scarlett Johansson, but the end result lacks the magic of the movie's classic source material."

Yep, definitely a major issue for critics was the white washing.

Yes, some reviewers briefly mentioned the idea of it being "Westernized" but the main issue critics seem to have is that it's a dumbed down version of a cerebral "classic".

Movie viewers are more savvy than ever these days and if a film's marketing is bad (This film's marketing was bad) then they will do their due diligence and wait for reviews/word of mouth.
 
D

DeathoftheEndless

Crashing this plane... with no survivors!
I'm not sure why they thought giving this property a big budget adaptation was a good idea in the first place. Maybe it would have done decently in the post-Matrix era, but that was over a decade ago.
 
P

Plum

Member
UnemployedVillain said:
You said to ignore Ed and remove Vicious/the syndicate, which are both crucial to Spike's entire backstory
Click to expand...

Ignore Ed or just tone her character down, she's the most "anime" character in the show and therefore would need some tweaks to be palatable to Western audiences. She's not the core of Cowboy Bebop and, again, to imply that her character exactly as it's portrayed in the show is the only thing keeping the show from becoming Firefly is heavily reductive. The show has 10 full episodes without her, that's almost half its entire run-time.

And as for removing Vicious and the Syndicate, that's Spike's backstory, sure, but it's not what makes Cowboy Bebop, they're just catalysts in Spike's back-story for exploring his character. Adapting Jupiter Jazz, The Real Folk Blues or Ballad of Fallen Angels isn't the only way to adapt the show as it's, for the clear majority of its runtime, a slice of life show. A skilled writer can make any story they want with the crew as long as they get the characters, theme and style right. The Cowboy Bebop film that already exists shows this, alongside practically every episode outside of the five I mentioned before.
 
M

Meowster

Member
norm9 said:
Can only hope this is the end of pout face Scar Jo.
Click to expand...
She makes too good of choices in movies for that to ever happen. Critical love in movies like Under The Skin and Her, major money and public recognition from the Avengers and the rest of the Marvel flicks. Ghost is just a blemish in an otherwise very strong filmography.
 
quickwhips

quickwhips

Member
I just don't think the general audience wants a ghost in shell movie. Even with Asian leads it probably would have bombed.
 
T

The Artisan

Member
kswiston said:
Goku is not the best example, since Dragonball "Earth" isn't our Earth. It's ruled by the King of Earth, and there aren't individual countries. Still, the American version got ripped apart for casting Justin Chatwin as Goku.
Click to expand...

here's the map of Dragon Ball's Earth

world.jpg


so as you can see, there is a section of the map called "west capital" I believe that is where bulma is from, whereas grandpa gohan's home is all the way over in the east. bulma's got the unrealistic blue hair but she also has blue eyes, her mother has blonde hair so it is semi-consistent with the real world earth that the western people are based on more European features.

the fanmade video light of hope got the casting right, in my opinion. They made bulma white, gohan asian, and trunks asian (presumably half white)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opji5DgE_nQ
 
R

Rell

Member
Jaeger said:
The people saying the controversy had nothing to do with it doing bad, and it was the source material are obviously too young to remember a little major box office and critical success called The Matrix. Or Terminator. Or Chronicle. Or any other handful of sci-fi films. Because those all owe so much to anime.
Click to expand...

I don't know if I'd go that far...but those are all examples of good science fiction movies. A lot of directors were inspired by anime, but the reason that so much 80s and 90s science fiction films have a lot of silimarities from an ideas and tone standpoint is because science fiction literature went through a pretty aggressive revolution in the 70s and 80s.

Genre films still can't attract the right talent to make a good finished product and the movie-going audience has no real interest in mid-budget blockbusters based on an unfamiliar property.

Casting has nothing to do with it. Are we really kidding ourselves that people want to see an American film set in Japan, starring a Japanese cast, with everyone speaking English? Because the American blockbuster crowd sure as hell isnt going to watch a movie filmed in a foreign language, unless it's a historical drama.

There's a reason these films are called adaptations.

I'm not going to get bent out of shape when Joni Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower" doesn't sound just like Bob Dylan's original.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Taylor Swift: Eras Tour (concert movie) might break box office October opening record
2
93
3K
kurisu_1974 replied
Rottenwatch: The Marsh King's Daughter (starring Daisy Skywalker's American Accent)
28
2K
Laieon replied
How Marvel Is Quietly Retooling Amid Superhero Fatigue
2
61
3K
Unknown Soldier replied
Strange World Bombs At Box Office in Disastrous Start for Disney Movie
2 3 4 5 6
294
17K
RAÏSanÏa replied
The Mario movie set to cruise past a billion at the box office and become the bigget video game movie by a huge margin
2 3 4
183
12K
jason10mm replied
Top Bottom