Scarlett Johansson’s new sci-fi 3D blockbuster Ghost in the Shell tanked at the box office this weekend, taking $18.6 million from wide release, some $30 million less than the other new release, the Alec Baldwin-voiced animated kids’ movie The Boss Baby.
The inquest at Paramount and Dreamworks is just beginning, but social justice warriors already think they know what caused the movie to underperform: a controversy they generated over whitewashing. The brouhaha was based on the fact that the the role of ‘Major’—a cyborg policewoman hunting a computer hacker—went to Johansson, a white Hollywood star, instead of an Asian actor.
SJWs claim it is that crime by Hollywood that caused the public to stay away in droves, and they were joined by the New York Times:
A note to Hollywood: Whitewashing doesn’t pay. “Ghost in the Shell” fizzles around the world. https://t.co/FQUYqGgQX5
— New York Times Arts (@nytimesarts) April 2, 2017
Hollywood,
Clearly there is no appetite for whitewashing as seen w/ Exodus, Gods of Egypt, Great Wall, & now Ghost in the Shell.
Stop.
— Ben Frank (@BenFrankIV) April 2, 2017
I’m honestly not surprised that Ghost in The Shell flopped. That’s what the film makers get for whitewashing.
— deeplyZinc (@deeplyZinc) April 2, 2017
The usual media suspects were certainly vocal about “whitewashing” in Ghost in the Shell, but poor marketing, mixed reviews and vagueness about what the movie was actually about are likely more significant factors accounting for the film’s failure to connect with audiences than the color of the star’s skin.
“Some might point to the whitewashing controversy that bubbled on the internet in casting Johansson in a Japanese anime feature adaptation. But really, that type of thing doesn’t weigh heavily on average moviegoers’ minds,” Deadline Hollywood wrote.
In fact, analyst Anthony D’Alessandro thinks the film’s stars not being on social media was more of a problem than what was said on social media: “This movie could have benefited from her [Johansson’s] own personal tub-thumping, and igniting even more fans to attend…social media is whatever you make it, and it’s certainly the best currency for a star and a wannabe tentpole nowadays (duh).”
Still it’s not stopping the ‘whitewashing’ theory with some even injecting sexism in the equation:
The depressing thing about Ghost in the Shell not doing well is Hollywood will claim that women-led films are the problem, not whitewashing.
— Annalee (@leeflower) April 2, 2017
