Ghost In The Shell Poised To Lose $60 Million

Ghost in the Shell didn’t dazzle with its $18.6 million opening and now it looks like the film is on its way to a major lost. Film finance sources say the film stands to lose at least $60 million, and that’s based off a global B.O. projection of $200 million ($50 million domestic, $150 million international) and combined P&A/production costs of $250 million. Some sources even assert that the production cost for Ghost is far north of $110 million and more in the $180 million range — if that’s the case, Ghost is bleeding in excess of $100 million when it’s all said and done.

The bombing of Ghost In The Shell arrives at an awful time for Paramount in the wake of its $1 billion slate financing deal with Shanghai Film Group and Huahua Media going south, coupled with the fact that most of the studio’s 2016 slate outside of Arrival and Fences has tanked. Ghost was originally part of the Shanghai/Huahua deal, with both companies supposedly vested in director Rupert Sanders’ movie alongside DreamWorks and Paramount; each studio maintained 30% exposure. While DreamWorks reportedly stands to lose as much as $20 million, Paramount could incur a bigger loss sans the Chinese funds.

In the face of the whitewash controversy over Scarlett Johansson’s casting, it’s been argued that Paramount wasn’t doing enough to subdue it, despite a global trailer drop in Tokyo back in November. One social meme that Paramount plowed ahead with to DreamWorks’ dismay was the #IAmMajor, where moviegoers could share a graphic about what makes them unique. The meme blew up in the studios’ face with social media users using it as a form of protest in regards to the controversial casting.

Reviews also played a part in the film’s opening weekend failure. Paramount argues that the whitewashing controversy fed into reviews and thus was responsible for plummeting its Rotten Tomatoes score from 71% to 45% in a 24-hour period between its Wednesday, March 29 all-media screening and its preview Thursday night. This in turn dinged the pic’s tracking, dropping its opening projections from $25-$30 million to $18.6 million.


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About Gaius Bolling 3795 Articles
At the age of five, I knew I wanted to write movies and about them. I've set out to make those dreams come true. As an alumni of the Los Angeles Film Academy, I participated in their Screenwriting program, while building up my expertise in film criticism. I write reviews that relate to the average moviegoer by educating my readers and keeping it fun. My job is to let you know the good, the bad, and the ugly in the world of cinema, so you can have your best moviegoing experience. You can find more of my writing on Instagram @g_reelz.