Once again we have a situation where Paramount has a very expensive picture on their hands, and its not opening. When Jim Gianopulos settles in, this type of thing isnt going to happen! roared one rival distribution executive today. Talk about deja vu. It was only two months ago when xXx: Return of Xander Cage with a reported production cost of $85M and the social media star power of Vin Diesel made zero impact stateside with a $20.1M opening/$45M final domestic, but all the difference overseas with a $301M take. Hopefully, Ghost will have the same luck abroad where Scarlett Johanssons Lucy sparked to $336.69M in its international run. For a look at all international and worldwide tallies, read my colleague Nancy Tartagliones overseas box office report.
In November, Johansson traveled to Tokyo for a massive Ghost in the Shell event where the global trailer was first dropped ultimately earning 1.2M views. So Paramount will be hoping and praying that its overseas audiences will come running.
Frankly, its baffling to see Ghost in the Shell going to hell domestically: The visuals rival Blade Runner and it wasnt too long ago that we saw Johanasson opening movies (original IP no less!) on her own with Lucy ($43.9M opening, $126.7M domestic take off a $40m cost) sans the Avengers gang. Furthermore, Paramount was very passionate about this movie, and made waves during the Mr. Robot finale back in September with enigmatic glitch commercial interstitials (pieces from the film). Online it was revealed that the glitches were in fact related to an early brilliant promo for Ghost.
Currently, LAX is blitzkrieged with Ghost one-sheets and banners. Theres an even an Osculus Rift virtual experience that was produced for the film, putting users into the shoes of Johanssons Major character whereby she swan dives from the rooftop and battles geisha robots.
But somewhere along the way, Ghost fell apart whether it was in the marketing or the film itself. Some might point to the white-washing controversy that bubbled on the internet in casting Johansson in a Japanese anime feature adaptation. But really, that type of thing doesnt weigh heavily on average moviegoers minds (but it did on critics the film started out with 71% on Rotten Tomatoes before critics continued to hammer away on the controversy of the casting). Despite the uber-cool, visual trailers that were cut for Ghost, rivals believe it was all eye-candy with zero substance. You dont know what the storyline was. Is Scarletts character good, or is she bad? assessed one marketing maven who added the look of Ghost was too Wachowski-esque.
RelishMix sharply observed that the film was challenged by an overall non-social and inactive cast. Even though Johansson doesnt shy away from PR when it comes to her movies, theres a wasted opportunity here in regards to her absence from social. This is an actress who is a millennial pin-up girl, beloved by males and shes not meeting that audience head-on with a Dwayne Johnson promo sensibility. The proof of her fanbase resides in the audience polls: On CinemaScore, 39% came out to Ghost because of Johansson with 61% males attending, 76% over 25. Meanwhile, Screen Engine/ComScores Posttrak showed 62% males buying tickets with the pics largest demo being guys over 25 at 42%.
Now a studio will always make-up for a star who is personally non-social by doing other social media stunts with them, but this movie (and Johanssons career here) could have benefited from her own personal tubthumping, and igniting even more fans to attend. Six years ago, in an Interview with Arianna Huffington, Johansson dissed social media: I cant think of anything Id rather do less than have to continuously share details of my everyday life. Im always surprised that certain actors have Twitter accounts. I guess they use it in a way that works for them. But Id rather that people had less access to my personal life. However, social media is whatever you make it, and its certainly the best currency for a star and a wannabe tentpole nowadays (duh).
Another reveal here is that despite the box office-to-production cost fail here with Ghost, if a Johansson film is made for the right price ala a Resident Evil, a fanbase will show up and shell out a certain amount of cash.
Lastly, in regards to Ghost, whenever a studio hides a movie from the press, you know something is up. Here in L.A., Paramount scheduled an all-media screening last Wednesday when the bulk of the industrys vital press corps were covering CinemaCon. Well, theres no such thing as a coincidence, and Paramount didnt offer up any earlier screenings for those journalists wanting to see the film ahead of the exhibitor confab. The studio also didnt screen the movie at CinemaCon because they were holding their exhibitor screenings ahead of time. All of this was odd given the Melrose Lots mojo for selling Ghost back in the fall. But then it was clear: Ghost logged a 41% Rotten Tomatoes score with high brow critics declaring It gets bogged down in aesthetics that are stimulating only for the sake of stimulation, seemingly without a flicker of thought behind them. Shell indeed, but theres no ghost at home (Tribune News Katie Walsh).
Forgot the reviewers were going to be cracking puns.
