By Joshua Tyler | Published
Big Budget, Star-Laaden, Special Effects Bonzas are no longer guaranteed.
But the box office panorama was different in 2017, a time when The rock I could do bad Final game crescendo.
In that environment, the biggest star in the world launched a very budgeted science fiction action film, beautiful, high sex, high concept and science fiction based on a beloved source material. With a production budget reported or $ 110-180 million, plus $ 60 million in marketing, Paramount aimed at a global franchise initiator, hoping to rival The matrix‘S $ 460 million worldwide 1999.
The world responded to the film with indignation and condemnation, but that was the only problem.
That’s why Ghost in the shell Failed.
Stephen Spielberg was a mega fan of the classic 1995 anime movie Ghost in the shell. At that time, he called the anime “one of the most visionary science fiction films ever made”, and his passion Dreamworks to overcome competitors such as Sony for rights.
Then, in 2008, his company, Dreamworks, acquired the rights to make it a live action movie.
Translating it to a usable script was difficult. Numerous writers were brought and different approaches were tested; None of them worked.
The biggest problem was that Dreamworks wanted something accessible to the consumption of mass audience, and doing so, while also remained faithful to the source was impossible.
The very qualified anime-R, 1995 raised only $ 2 million worldwide, but had cult followers. Paramount needed a success to justify the film’s budget, pointing at least $ 400 million worldwide to break.
Finally, they hired director Rupert Sanders, the guy behind Snow White and the Hunter.
His solution was to stay faithful to the visual fidelity of the anime while focusing history more on action, as a way of serving the general public.
Sanders filmed in New Zealand and Hong Kong, using 3000 CGI shots and practical sets to recreate the urban landscape of the anime, with the Weta workshop that designs the commander’s suit. The script prioritized action pieces, such as a Robot Geisha fight, on the philosophy of anime dialogue.
Scarlett Johansson joined the project in 2015 to play the leadership of the film, the elder.
Thanks to playing Black Widow, Scarlett Johansson had reached the peak of his fame as an action icon in 2015, and invested that fame in an avant-garde science fiction project that would basically run it as close as close as possible to be in a PG-13 movie, during most of its execution time.
The commander’s suit was designed to imitate the naked anime aesthetics, but used grandparents to ensure a PG-13 rating, avoiding the complete nudity of the original with R classification.
Scarlett Johansson was taking many risks like this, duration of this part of his career.
In 2013 the acclamation was won by starring in the independent science fiction film Under the skinIn which he plays an alien who eats a man who disobeys before investing his victims. That film, for $ 13 million, raised $ 7 million but won critical praise, with Johansson’s naked scenes that generated debate about the debate about art versus exploitation.
At least, Johansson deserves more professional credit for his willingness to run great risks. She rejected safer roles in Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Jurassic world To pursue Ghost in the shellbetting on its potential to redefine it as science fiction leader.
So, she would have to Ghost in the shellThe leader, if she was Japanese.
Breaking News: Scarlett Johansson is not Japanese. Meanwhile, the characters in the anime version and the original manga version of the story are definitely.
More about that in a minute.
First, let’s see the film with which they ended, because he examined purely as a piece of entertainment, isolated from the controversy, is real, well, very good.
Ghost in the shell It takes place in a dystopian future where cyber improvements are common, and humans merge with machines. The scenario is based on the Hong Kong horizon, with 1.5 million LED lights used to create the holographic advertising fences of the city.
The city, a neon urban dew, is a center for technological progress and corporate power. Production designer Jan Roelfs built 12 practical sets, including a 40-foot high Hanka robotics laboratory, to base the CGI-Hevy world.
The narration focuses on the philosophical concept of “ghost”, which they call the consciousness or soul of a person, and the “shell”, his physical body or sometimes cybernetic.
This concept was simplified from the anime, which explored transhumanism through the debates about the sensitivity of AI, to focus on the commander’s personal identity crisis.
Scarlett Johansson plays the elderly, the first of the girl: a human brain houses a complete synthetic body after a tragic accident allegedly killed her. The film’s opening sequence, which shows its creation, used 1,200 CGI Marcos and cost $ 5 million alone.
Yes, it’s a bit like Robocop.
But it goes in a totally different direction. Where is Robocop Satirized corporate greed, Ghost in the shell Explore memory and autonomy, he thought that the political subtext of anime on government surveillance drops.
In the task of detaining cyber terrorists, Major fights a mysterious hacker, killing Hanka’s scientists manipulating their implants.
As you investigate the greats, the technical problems in the system, flashes of unknown memories, hint a hidden adjustment.
His search for Kuze presents a conspiracy linked to Hanka’s experiments with consciousness, forcing the greater to question his identity and autonomy.
Combining cyber action with existential questions, the film is as visual as the adaptation of the 1995 anime, but less philosophical.
As an action film, it is a wild trip and a unique experience, and the praise of what it achieves. The Final Battle Battle films, recreating the iconic climax of the anime, cost $ 10 million and request 400 extras.
It was a great production.
If the anime adaptation had not existed, I think there is a very good possibility that we are talking Ghost in the shell As a classic cult film. Instead, it is condemned to be, in a fair or unfair way, eternally labeled as a silly and probable racist.
From the moment Scarlett Johansson was announced Ash Ghost in the shellThe leadership, the world was scared, with faithful fans and people who never anime but will run politics, shouting on money laundering.
As to demonstrate how truly clueless were, it is rumored that Paramount and DreamWorks responded to indignation when considering the use of CGI “rapping” technology to make Johansson seem more Asian.
Grateful, that never happened. Instead, Paramount issued Japanese actors like Takeshi Kitano and Kaori Momoi in support roles to add authenticity, but this did little to quell the controversy.
Filming wrapped in June 2016, with Paramount betting $ 250,000 in a Super Bowl advertisement to change the focus on the images of the movies.
They probably thought that when it came out, the controversy would have run and the film would be allowed to fail or succeed exclusively for whether it was good or not. The study projected an opening weekend of $ 40 million nationwide, depositing at Johansson Star Power and the 3D screening of films, which represented 30% of ticket sales.
But it cannot be denied that the script did silly things. The final script, accredited to three writers, reduced the 20 -minute philosophical debates of the anime less than 5 minutes, replacing them with a direct revenge plot.
The narration, combining elements of the manga, the 1995 anime and Independent complexHe felt an inconire for some, without satisfying purists or involving new spectators. Test projections in 2016 obtained 65/100, below the target of Paramount 80/100, which caused last -minute readjustment that costs $ 8 million.
The negative buzz was everywhere, moving away to the public. A 2017 Yougov survey found that 60% of potential spectators knew the bleaching controversy, and 25% said they made them less likely to watch the film.
Launched on March 31, 2017, the film was launched for a long time the peak of cyber interest created by The matrix In the early 2000s. The big films in their first weekend were The Baby Chief With an opening of $ 50.2 million, and Beauty and the beast Winning $ 90.4 million in its third week.
The film opened to only $ 19 million and had alienated the base of main fans that could have helped give his legs long enough to become a cult success.
The film’s trailers emphasized the action on the existential issues of history, and their themes made it unique. Without that it seemed just another action movie trying to cheat The matrix.
A toxic mixture of violent reaction, critical warm, fierce competition, a large budget and a failure to resonate with fans or casual spectators condemned the film. Films 3.9/10 IMDB Qualification and C+ Cinemascore reflected mixed audience reactions, with 40% of ticket buyers who cite Johansson’s casting as a negative factor.
We will never get another live action Ghost in the shell Adaptation. And it is a shame, because fans deserve a faithful version of history. Paramount’s losses killed plans for a sequel, and no study has followed the IP, unlike Pokémon ORPÍN Sonic The Hedgehogthat obtained successful adaptations.
But maybe Ghost in the shell It deserves more credit. Following its box office failure, we have subjected much worse anime adaptations.
Ghost in the shell He tries hard and Hollywood threw a ton of money for this to happen.
Contrast that with live action adaptations without a budget, such as the terrible Netflix, Take On Cowboyor the best 2018 forgotten Death Note adaptation, and it is difficult not to ask if the world was too hard Ghost in the shell.
Scarlett Johansson goes hard, every minute, in Ghost in the shellAnd also each painting in the movie. She made 90% of her acrobatics, training for six weeks with the fight choreographer John WickDavid Leitch.
It is beautiful and daring, and the action is first category.
Scarlett Johansson was not the original option to play greater. The role was sacrificed for the first time to Margot Robbie. But Robbie declined, preferring to play Harley Quinn in Suicide squadA choice that is not likely to regret it.
Maybe that was the correct call, but eliminated the controversy and Ghost in the shell It is a much better movie than Suicide squad.
Would we all prefer to have a more faithful adaptation? Sure. But he looked isolated, Ghost in the shell It is a well -made science fiction film. And, unlike modern box office successes, such as Captain America: Boring New WorldAt least they ran risks.
