The month of March hasn’t traditionally been a time for huge box office blockbusters, but that has certainly changed in recent years, evidenced a few weeks ago by the record-breaking success ofBeauty and the Beast. Another film hoping to capitalize on this upward trend was Paramount’sGhost in the Shell, although the movie was handily trounced by DreamWorks Animation’sThe Boss Baby, which opened with $50.1 million, whileGhost in the Shelldebuted in third with $18.6 million, a lackluster pull for a movie budgeted at $110 million. As the fall out from this box office flop continues, one Paramount executive revealed in an interview that thewhitewashing controversylikely lead to the negative critical reception, which may have impacted the box office performance.
Heading into the opening weekend, neitherThe Boss BabynorGhost in the Shellwere critical hits, withBoss Babycurrently posting a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, whileGhost in the Shellposted a 45% rating among the nation’smovie critics.The Boss Baby, starring a voice cast lead byAlec Baldwin, opened in 3,773 theaters whileScarlett Johansson’sGhost in the Shellopened in 3,440 theaters. WhileThe Boss Babyhad a slight advantage in theater count (9%) and critical reception (5%), the animated movie still earned more than twice whatGhost in the Shellearned in its opening weekend, although both movies are aimed at far different audiences. During an interview withCBC, Paramount domestic distribution chiefKyle Daviesrevealed that he thinks the whitewashing controversy impacted the reviews and the box office.
“We had hopes for better results domestically. I think the conversation regarding casting impacted the reviews. You’ve got a movie that is very important to the fanboys since it’s based on aJapanese anime movie. So you’re always trying to thread that needle between honoring the source material and make a movie for a mass audience. That’s challenging, but clearly the reviews didn’t help.”
While there was no significant uproar whenScarlett Johanssonwas cast in the lead role of The Major, known as Major Kusanagi in the anime movie, after the first photo of the actress was released last spring, many fans started calling out the studio for casting a white female for a role typically portrayed as an Asian female. There was also a report last April that claimed Paramount ordered visual effects tests to makeScarlett Johanssonappear more Asian than white, utilizing techniques known as “beauty work,” which is typically used to make actors and/or actresses appear either younger or older than their actual age.
This movie is just the latest to come under fire forwhitewashing. Recent films such asAloha, which cast white actressEmma Stoneas a half-Chinese/half-Hawaiian woman,Pan, which cast caucassianRooney Maraas the Native American character Tiger Lily andGods of Egypt, which cast a predominantly white cast to play Egyptian characters, all being heavily criticized and, coincidentally, all flopping at the box office. As forGhost in the Shell, it has fared slightly better overseas in its debut, with a worldwide total of $62 million, but it will need a miraculous second weekend an beyond to become the box office blockbuster Paramount envisioned.
