Welcome to Tokyosaurus, so what’s up in Japan?
A new trailer was streamed onto the official website of the live action Ghost in the Shell
movie and the final release date was revealed to be April 7th of 2017 in Japan so the release
date is probably going to be somewhere near that date.
So the big question is, will Ghost in the Shell live action flop?
It seems like any time Hollywood touches anything Japanese related a disaster is bound to follow
such as the unwatchable live action dragon ball from years back.
But times do change and right now may be one of the best times to introduce live action
adaptations of anime and manga to the Hollywood scene.
After the disasters of previously adapted projects why are manga slash anime publishers
more open to US adaptations of their work?
As the population of Japan continues to shrink it is inevitable that their market for movies
or anime will continue to shrink as well.
Seeing how well received anime and manga currently is in the US, it is no question that there
is currently a market for this type of material that is not fulfilled to its maximum potential.
Just look at how many of the biggest Japanese games have moved from domestic first releases
to simultaneous international releases such as the recent Pokemon sun and moon or final
fantasy XV, or the amount of money put into making an excellent localization in the voice
acting or script we can see how much these companies are starting to care about the international
market outside of japan.
Manga creators have also realized that there can be adaptations of comics that can also
be done very well such as the marvel movies that have basically taken over the box office
in the past few years.
If American comics can be delivered in a way that can satisfy the mass appeal of the biggest
hollywood movies, then Japanese comics (which have an even bigger audience than american
comics) should definitely have a chance.
Ghost in the Shell live action itself has been in the talks for almost 10 years.
The trailers that were released so far shows us that they do respect the reference material
as shown in the shelling trailer.
It literally is a 1 to 1 replica of the original scene with a few minor changes.
Having said that, we really should not be expecting or even want a 1:1 replica of the
original series either because that would just be boring.
Hollywood movie pacing is very different than the pacing of anime movie and the two have
vastly different audiences.
I think the goal here would be to tell the same story but with a Hollywood delivery that
can also appeal to people who don’t watch anime regularly.
If this movie succeeds, this will mark the first successful expansion into the US movie
market that would bring good revenue to the Japanese anime industry which would also mean
better budgets for domestic releases.
Ghost in the Shell is a project that MUST succeed if Hollywood and the anime industry
wants to capitalize on the goldmine of stories that are just waiting there to be adapted
and as a fan of anime, I am definitely going to be cheering it on.
Aside from that, I think the cinematography in the trailer looks crazy good so far and
what’s with people complaining about the casting?
Sure Scarlett Johansson isn’t Asian but her resume makes her one of the best actors
to fit the bill for role.
She’s starred in plenty of movies that have a similar futuristic dystopian setting and
have done extremely well for herself in the comic world as well.
As Steven Paul (the producer) said, there are all sorts of people and nationalities
in the world of Ghost in the Shell.
We’re utilizing people from all over the world.
There’s Japanese in it, Chinese in it, English in it, Americans in it.
Like would you rather have a really experienced and good actor with mass appeal in the lead
role or someone who’s race is more politically correct but with less experience?
I don’t know about you but I would take the former over the latter any day.
So the answer the question, no I don't think it's going to flop.
I actually think it's going to do quite well.
But that's just me.
What do you feel about the new Ghost in the Shell Live action?
As usual let us know in the comments below.
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