That's very typical of Hollywood.
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Paramount Says Ghost In The Shell Flopped Because Of Whitewashing Controversy
- Thread starter KSweeley
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That's very typical of Hollywood.
This was their first mistake. All their other mistakes were as a consequence of this.
He is in terms of movies, Ghost in the Shell is only Sanders' second credited directed movie, that I would say is a relative newbie for movie directors.
CadetMahoney
Member
Pretty much, they went full steam ahead hand waving away any "fanboys".
Then when it doesn't sell, blame the "fanboys".
Patrick Bateman
Member
On a tangentially related note, I really don't see the appeal of Scarlett Johansson as an action lead as the star of a movie at all. Every movie I've seen her in apart from Lost in Translation and maybe Her she just looks and sounds bored. She sucks.
Is it just because I haven't seen Under the Skin? If that's her at her best I should probably give it a shot.
Is it just because I haven't seen Under the Skin? If that's her at her best I should probably give it a shot.
mortal
Gold Member
Oh, there goes that white people = wider appeal excuse again. They totally had to justify the white washing guys, you know....for money.
According to that logic, non caucasian actors can't lead a movie, and people are deathly afraid of seeing anyone not caucasian act, because...who the fuck knows.
From an interview with 4 Japanese actresses who saw Ghost in the Shell: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/he...esses-dissect-movie-whitewashing-twist-990956
old manatee
Banned
Too bad MCU fans supported Doctor Strange even though it was whitewashed.
Not Spaceghost
Spaceghost
Nah dude bad movies perform well all the time. This clearly flopped because it couldn't cater to anyone at all.
Fans of GitS saw it and said "well this clearly isn't for me"
The mainstream saw it and said "uh what is this?"
Sacrjo clearly can't carry action movies on her own, and Luc B just doesn't have a die hard enough fanbase like nolan or cameron who will see literally anything that is produced by those two.
Then the controversy on top of that might have just put enough people off.
The majority of people who saw this are people who go to the theater every weekend looking for something to watch.
Zoe
Member
I didn't say they had to be Asian.
A strong, well-known supporting cast would have been a better draw for the general public than throwing a bunch of money at one woman,
TemplaerDude
Member
There's pretty much no reason to learn anything if people are going to fork money over for the next dumb fucking thing they do.
They could take my money right now.
I'd pay to watch the John Wick guys film Keanu Reeves reading the phone book.
Yeah Hollywood, the Fast and Furious series has no mass appeal because of its diverse cast 🙄
Not only that, but his previous film was considerably more expensive than GITS.
What they saw was the surprisingly decent BO on that film and snapped him up.
Rockandrollclown
lookwhatyou'vedone
Is that an actual line from the movie?
kame-sennin
Member
This is exactly what will happen. Minorities always get blamed.
90% of the people that saw ads or posters don't know a thing about the whitewashing so that's horseshit. The majority of people that go and see a movie aren't going to be aware of that. Hell, I felt the most excited people who wanted to see it were those that actually knew the 1995 anime and had awareness of the IP in the first place.
You overspent on something and it went down in flames and you couldn't recoup your budget, simple as that.
You overspent on something and it went down in flames and you couldn't recoup your budget, simple as that.
probably, but the non-asian major is just a symptom of the bigger problem, which is focusing on what they think the average movie-goer wants rather than focusing on making a good movie.
Frozenprince
Banned
A spy movie with the John Wick guys (really this needed to be a spy/espionage film) sounds like crack.
I've heard people say and articles state that ScarJo can "put butts in seats" for movies she stars in.
That is clearly not the case with Ghost in the Shell, I went to see it this past Monday at a 2 PM showing, only me and 4 other people actually was in the theater the entire time for the movie. 5 people for a movie seems like ScarJo cannot put "butts in seats."
That is clearly not the case with Ghost in the Shell, I went to see it this past Monday at a 2 PM showing, only me and 4 other people actually was in the theater the entire time for the movie. 5 people for a movie seems like ScarJo cannot put "butts in seats."
Isaac Otherworld
Member
Yeah. Even if the movie wasn't shit, didn't have the white washing bullshit, and expanded on the franchise the way the original film and TV series had that made it feel new and fresh to fans, it still wouldn't have done well. The word "Unadaptable" comes to mind. GiTS is a niche extremely heavy and hard sci-fi cyberpunk story with themes of existentialism and transhumanism that's going to go over most audience's heads. A good GiTS movie couldn't have succeeded in a world where audiences by and large really just want an endless supply of the Transformers sequels fed to them. The fact that the movie sucks too was just icing on the cake. It was a wrongheaded idea from the start.
Zoe
Member
Taking something traditionally meant for minorities and making it white.
Skellig Gra
Member
It certainly didn't help their case.
I think they were saying that the rabid anime fans and people who wanted an Asian lead were basically trashing the movie for years and gave it bad rap before it even came out.
Frozenprince
Banned
It's why i feel making a new Blade Runner is just absurd.
The very idea is designed to be a money sink.
Gai Murakumo
Member
Do not blame yourself for the terrible sales it is always something else. Come on Paramount. Even without that controversy I never saw the movie being a hit for the mainstream audience. It is a niche film for an already niche anime. Only really fans of GITS would be the ones to go and see that film.
Can Crusher
Banned
"Impacted the reviews"
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Lesson learned?
Maybe change your views on white being the default for mass audience.
Frozenprince
Banned
It's the circle of fuckery.
Agreed. Or at least a crime thriller sort of movie.
I'll agree to that.
GiTS (2017) is a great example of a film where Hollywood thinks they can (yet again) take a great story, dumb it down for the masses, cast an a-list actor, throw some money at it and think it'll stick. Oh, and let's not forget that they usually throw these kind of projects at people who have a reputation of making shit films.
It happens time and time again, and it's getting tiresome.
Angelus Errare
Banned
People will see a movie if it's a decent, engaging, or entertaining regardless of who the lead is. We've seen so many movies with huge box office stars bomb but everyone keeps believing that white stars are needed for movies to do well.
Anything else just perpetuates this notion that only white actors are capable of leading movies and that they alone are what are the heralds of movie success. Any other minority isn't worth putting in lead roles because they aren't white.
It's literally a self feeding bunch of nonsense of:
-Only white actors are cast
---People ask why minorities aren't cast in lead roles
---Others say they're not big name/name isn't known to carry a movie
---Suggests minorities 'continue to grind until they're a household name then hollywood might take a chance'
-Only white actors are cast
---Puts a huge stumbling block in the whole "work until you're a household name"
---Argue that money talks and so white people have to be cast
-So only only white actors are cast
---People ask why minorities aren't cast in lead roles
---Others say they're not big name/name isn't known to carry a movie
---Suggests minorities 'continue to grind until they're a household name then hollywood might take a chance'
-Only white actors are cast
---Puts a huge stumbling block in the whole "work until you're a household name"
---Argue that money talks and so white people have to be cast
-Only white actors are cast
Frozenprince
Banned
What compelled them to think "$110M straight up action movie" was the direction the script needed, I'll never know.
Sometimes I think they have bets on how to piss away the most money.
I know, but they're wrong. The trashing isn't going to reach the main audience that they need to make their money back on - an audience that doesn't care about the IP to begin with and are just looking for a movie to see on a weekend.
Rabid anime fans aren't going to kill a movie just like rabid comic book fans didn't make Scott Pilgrim a hit.
Angelus Errare
Banned
"America loves action movies and Scarlett, it'll easily make it's money back"
ThatGayWolf
Member
I saw the movie last night, whitewashing wasn't the only problem with it. Just the only culturally important problem.
It was 100% awful, toe to tip.
It was 100% awful, toe to tip.
Frozenprince
Banned
In a world where a critically "Meh" fucking POWER RANGERS movie looks primed to be a solid hit when international returns come in beats you twice over.
You need to realize that you just made a mediocre movie that nobody felt compelled to see.
Yeah, probably.
GuitarAtomik
Member
Said it already: I don't think the whitewashing was a major factor in it bombing, but I'm totally cool with them taking that as the lesson.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
It's not "unadaptable" cuz we already had live-action movies like GitS. True not all of them succeed but they exist and most gain cult followings. Live-action GitS was just a typical action movie.
Frozenprince
Banned
The lesson is blame towards people being mad, though. Not that their practice was flawed.
Eh, that's less than the reason. I'm gunna say just going off reviews it was a average to poor film that couldn't gain traction because of weak trailers and press. People will see shit, no matter what but you gotta build a base somewhere and those trailers didn't help. Then the reviews put a bullet in its brain.
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