John Kowalski
Banned
What a fumble all around.
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Ghost in the Shell bombs at the box office
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Uhh, what?
Good idea. We wouldn't want The godfather, or any other book adaptation to be made.
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
-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
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.
I don't hate it like I hated Pacific Rim though, so that's that.
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
Member
This part was also pretty interesting to me. If it becomes a trend, then expect to see more films lack critic screenings before launch.
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.
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.
Kinda pointless ignoring what I quoted, don't you think?
jack_package_200
Banned
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.
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.
NealMcCauley
Member
With Paul W.S. Anderson directing the movie would cost less too.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Anime and manga is worth adapting when everyone has their shit together. I'm sure someone 20 years ago thought an Avengers movie was impossible.
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..
Member
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.
The Artisan
Member
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.
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.
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.
Prototype Viktor
Member
"Soul Man" (1986) lol
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.
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.
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.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Goku is also based on the Monkey King which is rooted in Chinese mythology.
Prepare to be disappointed.
Aren't there Asian and Black adaptations of Superman?
Look at where all these reviewers mention the Whitewashing:
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.
NipplesAndToes23
Member
Oh yeah, LOL.
It's not wrong though. 0/3 so far.
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.
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.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Yes but they're not Clark Kent.
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
Member
I just don't think the general audience wants a ghost in shell movie. Even with Asian leads it probably would have bombed.
The Artisan
Member
here's the map of Dragon Ball's Earth
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
Ya. They sort of veered away from that in favour of the Superman inspired stuff in the more popular volumes of the manga covered in the Dragon Ball Z show.
Ah, the ol "No review copies for the gaming media they can have it on release day" scheme is it
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.
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