Ghost in the Shell is among the most well-known series in the anime community. The story of Major Kusanagi, a cyborg policewoman from an elite Japanese force is one that certainly brings about fond memories to old time anime fans. Recently a live-action film was produced and it starred Scarlett Johansson as the eponymous Major Kusanagi, but it flopped horribly, and became one of the biggest box-office failures of the year. Many fans took to blaming the the "white washing" of what originally was meant to be an "Asian" role given to a white woman. They cited the failures of other films such as Dragon Ball: Evolution and even The Last Airbender for similar results, and also the "white washing" of their cast. While there is certainly a valid case to be formed against the use of Caucasian actors in place of Asian ones, there is a lot more to consider as far as the failure of Ghost in the Shell goes. Part of it is that Hollywood fails to realize that obscure anime franchises are nearly guaranteed to fail at the box office.
Ghost in the shell might be famous around their specific niche, but that in no way guarantees a large number of tickets sold. While I often heard people ask me if I wanted to go see the Power Rangers, Get Out, and even Logan; nobody would ask me about Ghost in the Shell. I work in a military environment, which means that I'm constantly surrounded by people who have extremely polarizing views at any given time. Yet, despite the variety of people in my command of three thousand people, not once did I ever hear anyone mention the film at any point. There was no hype for Ghost in the Shell. People didn't care about this film, the controversy that surrounded the film regarding the "white washing" was left completely to a very vocal anime community, which didn't even go watch the film, but for completely different reasons to everyone else. It's even more interesting when you visit Japan and ask people if they cared about it and most of them didn't even care.
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But, if it wasn't the controversy that killed it, then what did? Well, lots of factors. The obscurity, the lack of hype, and the fact that Ghost in the Shell (film) was based on an anime series. I'm certain the controversy did affect it a little bit, but it wasn't the primary reason why Ghost in the Shell flopped. Historically speaking anime films don't do well in the theaters and it's just natural this one didn't do well either. I wasn't surprised, and I'm certain almost nobody was, except the film developers.
What we need to do is stop blaming Scarlett as I have to say she actually fit in well enough in the role. She looked almost identical to the main character and while she is beautiful; I don't think Scarlett has the staying power that her co-stars have in The Avengers. I'm sorry to say that she's just not that impressive...