Ghost in the Shell is "international" story

[Redryhno]

"Ghost in the Shell would fail if they didn't cast a star in the role!!! There aren't any Asian star actresses to be cast!!!!!!!"

Gee, it's almost like people don't realize that the way stars are made is by being cast in roles like Major Kusanagi...

Not with this kind of niche IP, studios just aren't prepared to risk what is likely north of $100 million when marketing is taken into account on the GITS brand alone, which has little to no pull with mainstream audiences. Pom Klementieff is in the Guardians sequel and I genuinely hope it's a breakout role for her. But Dreamworks and Paramount have to mitigate the financial risk involved and Scarlett is the tenth highest grossing performer in history. Given her box office pull and performances as both Lucy and The Black Widow when all factors are taken into account she's perfect for The Major.

Ghost in the Shell is niche? We are talking about the franchise that, since 1995, has had four full-length animated features, two different animated series, both of which were also adapted into three separate animated features themselves, and four video games? Fuck, if that's niche then Guardians of the Galaxy was downright unknown. And if anyone tries telling me that was sold on the star power of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper, then I'm going to seriously question what they consider to be "star power" and again point out that roles like this are exactly how people become stars in the first place.

Gonna have to refer you back to one of my other posts. Yes, GitS is niche. Anime in general is niche. Quit acting like it's mainstream, because it most certainly is not. It being known to exist and that it's not just cartoons is mainstream, but it's largely limited to DBZ, the big 3, and Sailor Moon.

Berserk, one of the most critically acclaimed mangas and anime of all time, has only just started breaking into the mainstream, and it has much more history than GitS. Gatchaman set the bar for so much in both eastern and western worlds, but nobody knows about it. Astro Boy was adapted like seven years ago and was largely unnoticed despite it being one of the best selling manga of all time. Initial D is still running and the only thing people know about it is the original opening.

And Guardians had franchise power behind it. It was a Marvel movie that was well done and was largely going to succeed no matter how you looked at it. Christ Pratt was largely beloved for Parks and Rec, Diesel had been trying to get a superhero role for years(like seriously, go look back, he cosplayed as Vision as a way to audition back when the first Avengers came out and has been very vocal about how much he loves just nerdy shit in general),Saldana had been cutting her teeth for years and Cooper was a known quantity. It also helped that the trailers were very well done and promised a different part of the Marvel universe. Star power? Not exactly, but it did have a bunch of seasoned actors and crew that were vocal in wanting to be a part of it.

You honestly can't compare the two unless you ignore so many of the factors. Not to mention you did see the last live-action anime movie right? With DBZ? One of the, in theory, easiest adaptations to make that just completely shit all over everything in the franchise so much that Toriyama disowned it and put it below GT(something that he has gone on record multiple times of saying he wanted nothing to do with) in terms of terribleness.

 

[MatParker116]

"Ghost in the Shell would fail if they didn't cast a star in the role!!! There aren't any Asian star actresses to be cast!!!!!!!"

Gee, it's almost like people don't realize that the way stars are made is by being cast in roles like Major Kusanagi...

Not with this kind of niche IP, studios just aren't prepared to risk what is likely north of $100 million when marketing is taken into account on the GITS brand alone, which has little to no pull with mainstream audiences. Pom Klementieff is in the Guardians sequel and I genuinely hope it's a breakout role for her. But Dreamworks and Paramount have to mitigate the financial risk involved and Scarlett is the tenth highest grossing performer in history. Given her box office pull and performances as both Lucy and The Black Widow when all factors are taken into account she's perfect for The Major.

Ghost in the Shell is niche? We are talking about the franchise that, since 1995, has had four full-length animated features, two different animated series, both of which were also adapted into three separate animated features themselves, and four video games? Fuck, if that's niche then Guardians of the Galaxy was downright unknown. And if anyone tries telling me that was sold on the star power of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper, then I'm going to seriously question what they consider to be "star power" and again point out that roles like this are exactly how people become stars in the first place.

Guardians had the power of Marvel brand and PR machine behind it, the hottest brand in film history and a franchise coming off two billion dollar hits and Winter Soldier at the time. GITS has none of that mainstream credibility that Marvel does, Scarlett gives the IP more pull & credibility with mainstream audiences and brings more people into the cinema to see it. Someone like Rinko Kikuchi simply does not have anywhere near the drawing power of the leading female action star in history.

 

[COMaestro]

"Ghost in the Shell would fail if they didn't cast a star in the role!!! There aren't any Asian star actresses to be cast!!!!!!!"

Gee, it's almost like people don't realize that the way stars are made is by being cast in roles like Major Kusanagi...

Not with this kind of niche IP, studios just aren't prepared to risk what is likely north of $100 million when marketing is taken into account on the GITS brand alone, which has little to no pull with mainstream audiences. Pom Klementieff is in the Guardians sequel and I genuinely hope it's a breakout role for her. But Dreamworks and Paramount have to mitigate the financial risk involved and Scarlett is the tenth highest grossing performer in history. Given her box office pull and performances as both Lucy and The Black Widow when all factors are taken into account she's perfect for The Major.

Ghost in the Shell is niche? We are talking about the franchise that, since 1995, has had four full-length animated features, two different animated series, both of which were also adapted into three separate animated features themselves, and four video games? Fuck, if that's niche then Guardians of the Galaxy was downright unknown. And if anyone tries telling me that was sold on the star power of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper, then I'm going to seriously question what they consider to be "star power" and again point out that roles like this are exactly how people become stars in the first place.

I think Guardians made it big by just being a Marvel movie. At this point, Marvel has a bit of a reputation for putting out enjoyable (if not always great) movies. If it had not been part of Marvel's Cinematic Universe and did not have the Marvel name and IP attached to it, I have a feeling it would not have done so well, despite being pretty much the exact same movie. I have no way to test this theory though.

Something else though that keeps being omitted from the Star Power argument is the directors. Steven Spielberg (despite the recent BFG flop) is a big name that draws attention, such as for Warhorse. While not as large a name as he once was, Kenneth Branaugh directed Thor, and I know I was curious about the movie when I heard that. I'm not saying all the movies that have been mentioned in this thread have big name directors, but a number of them do, even if none of the actors are really big names.

EDIT: And yes, GitS, and nearly all of anime is considered niche in the US. While its presence has expanded greatly over the past, say 15-20 years it is still a niche genre or just considered something like children's cartoons. Studio Ghibli films are probably the most well known and despite a few dark bits, I think the average movie viewer would consider them children's/family films.

 

[shrekfan246]

Steven Spielberg (despite the recent BFG flop) is a big name that draws attention, such as for Warhorse.

Actually, this is another argument in favor of pointing out how star power has no real relation to whether a film is successful or not. Spielberg is arguably one of the most famous directors of all time, and even he apparently couldn't sell The BFG to the general public. GitS might make a little bit more money than it otherwise would have because it has a big, recognizable name in the starring role, but its success is not going to live or die based on the casting of Scarlett Johansson.

 

[Derekloffin]

Steven Spielberg (despite the recent BFG flop) is a big name that draws attention, such as for Warhorse.

Actually, this is another argument in favor of pointing out how star power has no real relation to whether a film is successful or not. Spielberg is arguably one of the most famous directors of all time, and even he apparently couldn't sell The BFG to the general public. GitS might make a little bit more money than it otherwise would have because it has a big, recognizable name in the starring role, but its success is not going to live or die based on the casting of Scarlett Johansson.

The word you're looking for is 'guarantee' not 'relation'. Yes, star power is not a guarantee of success. It definitely has a relation though.

 

[Redryhno]

You got any suggestions for better casting options so we can maybe have a productive conversation?

Considering that you're assuming quite a lot about what I'm saying based on an exaggeration of the arguments I've seen thrown out about this topic rather than my actual opinion (please do note the quotation marks), I doubt we're going to have a productive conversation no matter what I do.

So that's a no? I've been asking this question to everyone that has a massive problem with the casting choices and have yet to get many answers, it's not an exaggeration.

Though I will point out something:

Maybe if GitS does well, then we will see it in the future with other franchises that deserve for more people to be exposed to them. I certainly hope so.

Ghost in the Shell stood as yet another in a long line of fantastic opportunities to actually highlight talented actresses who aren't white. Given the fact that there are so many people who are totally okay with it not, and given the history of precedent present in Hollywood, this mostly just seems to confirm that it's sadly going to continue with taking stories from other cultures and "Americanizing" them because everybody knows that Americans just can't handle anything that isn't 95% white. (That's also an exaggeration, before anyone gets on me for that.)

Have we all already forgotten Edge of Tomorrow?

BECAUSE IT HAPPENS IN EVERY OTHER MOVIE PRODUCING COUNTY IN THE WORLD DUDE. That is the whole point I've been trying to get across all thread long, but people only give a shit when it's Hollywood for whatever fucking reason.

Also, Edge of Tomorrow? That the Cruise "All I need is Kill" adaptation? That was praised but nobody really went to see? I'm not following here.

And I'm not sure what Batman & Robin has to do with this discussion at all. Even beyond the fact that it didn't change the ethnicity of Batman, George Clooney was hardly the reason it was a bad film (nor do I believe he was ever accused of such to any degree that was significantly detrimental) and his career only got more successful in its wake.

You really don't know what B&R has to do with this? Did you read my post? I said it made superhero movies go into hiding because of how badly it bombed for years afterwards, didn't say a damn thing about the actors involved or their careers afterwards.

People who say that Ghost in the Shell needs star power to sell are basically admitting that they don't think the property is good enough to sell on its own. Frankly, history should be enough to prove them wrong on that by now, because the thing wouldn't still be as relatively popular as it is (popular enough to get a Hollywood film, no less) if it wasn't good enough to be sold to a big enough audience.

Because I don't think it is outside of the anime community. Which isn't a large enough market to carry money, and the studios know that. It's a base to work off of for largely guaranteed tickets. As has been said MULTIPLE TIMES in the thread, there are numerous series that inspired more that are unknown today.

And it's not that hard to think that maybe people know that Johanssen is a good bridge between nerds and the mainstream for this project.

I mean, we know how critically acclaimed alot of DC's animated stuff is, but nobody buys it or knows about it outside of the comic community. It's much the same argument here. Hell, Pacific Rim sorta failed, and it didn't really have a name other than Del Toro connected to it and the subject matter is fucking kaiju and giant robots, something people should be stoked about from an action perspective. But the only people that went to see it are people already into that kind of stuff.

Would I like more Asian(again, specifically Japanese/Japanese-American since we need to be as pure as possible in this instance) actors? Fuck yeah. Lucy Liu is still one of my celebrity crushes from my childhood, Rinko recently was added to my Hollywood list of people I like to see appear in shit, and there are numerous Japanese actors I've taken a liking to after watching some of their films. But the fact of the matter is there's not alot of them out there and this is an adaptation. It doesn't make the animated films worse or their voice actors invalid, all it does is give it a base and hopefully we see more if this does well, which is why Johannssen was picked as a way to hedge bets on its success.

If anime adaptations prove profitable, we will see more Asians in breakout roles for Hollywood movies simply because the market will demand more and they'll have to expand the casting choices simply due to people not being able to be in seven places at once.

Also it's worth it to mention that if I'm remember it right, Asians are the second lowest statistically to go into acting above AmerInds, so we've already got a tiny base to work with.

 

[Zontar]

The rest of the country when you've sliced off the coasts? Chicago, and Texas would be the opinions and perspectives that matter from an economic perspective.

That's not even the coasts being sliced off, just those three cities. But I have a feeling that the people living in those three cities wouldn't be happy about Chicago or Texas becoming the new "only place who's opinions matter" part of the country given how the pendulum would swing to the opposite extreme.

You don't actually know much about the US, do you? I mean basic things, like population densities.

I know enough to know that if you remove New York, LA and San Francisco from the equation that Chicago would become the financial heart of the country and Texas the cultural one overnight.

That's like saying once you've cut off someone's head, the next most important organ is their heart. Maybe you're technically correct, but in a pointless kind of way. That, and you're agreeing with me.

I think you need to look back at the comment I made that started this whole thing, because the entire premise was predicated on the fact that if you remove those three specific cities is changes the entire balance of things in regards to Ameriacan culture, specifically that without those three specific cities certain ideas suddenly go from popular to unpopular.

 

[Zontar]

...And my counterpoint, that snipping the coasts off this country is snipping off most of the people and the economy of the country.

If you take out the three cities (and the rest of their states with them) you still have 80% of the US economy and about the same of its population. Not only do you still have the vast majority of the country, you also have the vast majority of its economy. It just feels like these places hold a significantly larger place in the nation then they actually do as a result of the two largest hubs of entertainment being within them, giving the appearance of a larger significance then there actually is (it's the same reason why the political views of the country and those depicted in television and movies are so different it's legitimately hard to get an accurate picture of things. Watching American television you'd think most people are Liberals yet Conservatives outnumber them population wise).

It's just like how here in Canada many have the idea that Toronto is the entire country, or London in the UK, or Paris in France. Major cities tend to have an over inflated appearance of importance in countries. Sometimes it's justified, in the case of the US it's not.

 

[Callate]

The Nostalgia Critic pointed out that a segment of people interviewed in Japan regarding Johansson's casting thought she looked great in the part.

Personally, I'd like to at least see a trailer before I begin making judgments that the entire enterprise as summarily without merit. Not least because damning the film for not meeting your casting standards is shooting yourself in the foot, making it that much less likely another anime-based film will be greenlit.

And once again, nothing from the PR department is going to soothe those determined to be ruffled, so one almost wonders why they bother...

 

[Redryhno]

The Nostalgia Critic pointed out that a segment of people interviewed in Japan regarding Johansson's casting thought she looked great in the part.

Personally, I'd like to at least see a trailer before I begin making judgments that the entire enterprise as summarily without merit. Not least because damning the film for not meeting your casting standards is shooting yourself in the foot, making it that much less likely another anime-based film will be greenlit.

And once again, nothing from the PR department is going to soothe those determined to be ruffled, so one almost wonders why they bother...

There hasn't really been much of an outcry from the Japanese section of youtube either, for all intents and purposes I think the majority of them don't mind, don't care, or don't know.

Honestly the only place I've seen have such a huge outcry is a pretty specific subsection of White America(with some Australia and Britain thrown in) that largely seems to have problems with half the things in existence anyways.

 

[Einspanner]

...And my counterpoint, that snipping the coasts off this country is snipping off most of the people and the economy of the country.

If you take out the three cities (and the rest of their states with them) you still have 80% of the US economy and about the same of its population.

I don't want to get into this fascinating debate too much, but California vanishing alone would crash the US economy into the dirt. This may be one of the topics that's better served by knowing something about it.

 

[Einspanner]

The Nostalgia Critic pointed out that a segment of people interviewed in Japan regarding Johansson's casting thought she looked great in the part.

Did they know, before that segment, that this movie was even being made? Contrary to most anime fans' dreams here, most Japanese are not otaku, and while GITS is popular, I'm not sure how popular this would be.

"How does this white lady look in this movie you've never heard of until right now" is kind of lame.

I'd guess that most GITS fans in Japan are like most GITS fans in general, and we weren't baying for a 90 minute live action Hollywood take on either the GITS:SAC, or the movies.

 

[Zontar]

...And my counterpoint, that snipping the coasts off this country is snipping off most of the people and the economy of the country.

If you take out the three cities (and the rest of their states with them) you still have 80% of the US economy and about the same of its population.

I don't want to get into this fascinating debate too much, but California vanishing alone would crash the US economy into the dirt. This may be one of the topics that's better served by knowing something about it.

That doesn't really relate to the subject though, since by that logic having any part of the country that represents more then 5% of the nation's GDP would do just that.

 

[Liljumpman]

Maybe if they cast some random noname white actress, but they cast Scarlett Johansson because she'll look good in a skintight suit and bring in more money because mostly everyone in America knows who she is so women will flock to see a good female actress, men will go to look at her in a skintight suit and weebs will see it anyway because GiTS is casual shit anyway so nobody really cares.

 

[UberGott]

Transformers begs to differ...

Not sure why this irks me as much as it did, but you know Transformers HAS name stars, right? They're Optimus Prime, Bumble Bee, Megatron and Starscream. The fact that Marky "Mark" Whalberg, Shia "DO IT!!" LaBeouf and Megan "..." Fox have been the 'names' attached to it are about as important to the franchises' success as the script writer for Who's Line Is It Anyway.

Transformers, to use a super easy example, sells itself on three things:

- Children, young and old, who want to watch robots transform into stuff.

- Mainstream audiences with 3 hours to kill who know that, as bad as these movies are, at least Michael Bay blows shit up. He blows it up, like, really good.

- Children, mostly old, who cling to the hope that maybe the Dinbots will suck way, way less than the bullcrap they pulled in the last one where Starscream gets-- I'm not even going to get into it. Yes I am still salty that Best Decepticon got taken down like that.

Tentpole franchises - your Batmans, your Fast and Furiouses, your Star Wars - it literally doesn't matter who they put in them. That's why terrible movies like Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Batman and Robin, and Attack of the Clones made money despite being unwatchable garbage. With all due respect to Daniel Craig and the dozen or two actors before him, nobody actually gives a damn who plays James Bond so long as the movie has a good theme song and a couple ridiculous set pieces in exotic locales.


Once it's become a part of the larger pop culture, the brand can sell itself. That's why Thor and Captain America were big hits, despite their stars being relative unknowns at the time; America has been raised on comic books for generations. People didn't go to see Chris Evans, they went to see Captain America and realized, oh hey, that Evans guy is alright.

Ghost in the Shell... well, let's face it, that's not a mainstream film. It's a cult sensation among cyberpunk fans and anime aficionados, certainly, but I'd put Princess Mononoke, Dragon Ball and even Attack on Titan as substantially more recognizable to a fanbase that isn't obsessed with a specific niche within a niche. The Mamoru Oshii film is easily the most well-known and respected version of the franchise, and even that's two decades old now with its' most meaningful contribution to pop-culture outside of Japan basically being "it inspired THE MATRIX".

Was I thrilled about ScarJo being cast? Not really. If anything, I thought that pretty much guaranteed it wouldn't happen. But she's evidently sick of playing second fiddle to a CG Robert Downey Jr, so here we are. She thinks it'll get her exposure and a paycheck, and Dreamworks thinks a poster with ScarJo in tight black latex with tubes sticking out of her head will put butts in seats. They're probably right in that it'll do better than NoNamey McWhatsherface, who was pretty good in that one movie. Y'know the one, with the thing? And the guy, with the face? Yeah, you know the one. Pity I can't think of anything else she's been in.

As for the whitewashing angle... eh, at least it's more complex here than usual. Mokoto Kusanagi is treated like a Japanese citizen, but her origin is intentionally left vague and open-ended because the core theme of the story is trans-humanism, where things like ethnicity, gender and age cease to mean anything. The fact that most adaptations have her being downloaded into a "new" body for one reason or another actually give them more wiggle room to play with the character's genetic ethnicity than usual, and while yes - Section 9 being an International Organization has a HUGE impact on the politics that drive much of the storyline - that's... kind of inevitable from an international co-production that's trying to make money in East Asia, Europe, North America and damn near everywhere else. It's about the same as the Japanese Attack on Titan movie casting a bunch of ethnic Japanese actors in a universe in which Asians are quite literally extinct; it's a given culture appealing to itself, and in the case of an international co-production, the culture it's appealing to is "literally everyone"... which, ironically, means it's actually catering to no-one.

The "CGI Yellowface" bit? Yeah, that was incredibly stupid. No defending that. But of all the franchises you could name where you could cast pretty much any actor and it'd still be canon with minimal hand-waving? This is right up there with Doctor Who.

Could you without using Google give me the name of an equally talented and equally famous Japanese actor who could be suited for this kind of character?

Thank you for this. Every single damn time I see Rinko Kikuchi recommended for this I cringe. And I love Kikuchi.

"The Major" - particularly the version in the Oshii films, which I assume will be the defacto inspiration for this project - is an interesting character. She's deadpan, moving through the most absurd and dangerous activities with a certain haze and bewilderment. There was a lot of attention in Oshii's film to give Batou and Aramaki, Togusa and so on slightly exaggerated facial expressions*, but Kusanagi is always present as a sort of doll, processing information without any emotional involvement.

Let's also not forget that the only physical flesh-and-blood woman who looks like an anime character is Milla Jovovich. Say what you will about Ultraviolet, but damn, she looked the part...

Honestly, the first actress that jumps out at me who could do this badass-but-barely-there character is Naomi Rapace. I defy anyone to name a Japanese actress who'd be better at this off the top of their head, because... frankly, most of them aren't that good. With all due respect to Japanese cinema, the focus on the market is soap-opera level schlock, exploitation B-movies, live stage plays and over the top dunce comedies - stuff that respects a young, fresh face more than a thoroughly weathered talent. There are> serious dramas made in Japan, sure, but they're the equivalent to Oscar Bait, and anyone who's a Ghost in the Shell fan probably ignores most of them.

(It's also possible they'll go with the SAC/2nd GIG version of The Major. Not my personal favorite, but if so that requires a very different touch I could see ScarJo pulling off more than the Oshii interpretation. And god help us if we get the smarmy, irresponsible, pansexual Major from Shirow's original comics... but hey, a man can dream!)

I'd be thrilled to be proven wrong, and it's been way too damn long since I've watched a Japanese film made in the last decade. I just get sick and tired of these "A JAPANESE WOULD BE BETTER!" without an actual Japanese actor in sight to fit the bill. There are Japanese actors and directors I adore, but let me know when we get a Gatchaman or Rurouni Kenshin movie that doesn't look like it's about to turn into an American porn parody at the drop of a hat.

The fact is some of the best "live action anime" films - Crying Freeman, Story of Ricky, Oldboy* and even stuff like the Berserk fan short - weren't made in Japan, or by Japanese actors and film makers. And Japanese creators are just as capable of creating unwatchable garbage like Devilman, Perfect Blue - In A Dream, She The Ultimate Weapon, and...

...well I want to say Casshern, but I love that movie. It's god-awful, but it's great in a David Lynch's Dune sort of way. Still, it was basically "Megaman: The Anime" and they found a way to turn it into a pretentious 2.5 hour version of Fantasia with about 20 minutes of amazing jaw-dropping anime action porn randomly drizzled on for good measure. But I'm further off track than I wanted to be.

There are plenty of stories that I firmly believe are entrenched in Japanese culture... but core cyber-crime motif and "what is the self?" philosophy that tags along with it is just as applicable anywhere in the world. You could make a great Ghost in the Shell movie set outside of Japan, with the actual politics playing second fiddle to whatever outside threat they go with - Puppet Master, Individual Eleven, Laughing Man, Solid State Society, whatever - retrofitted to a new setting and a new political landscape. Hell, House of Cards is a show about politics, but that didn't stop an American version of the show from finding compromises and an audience with a suitably original take on the same premise and characters as the English original.

...that's not to say I think the GITS movie will be any good. I don't mean to crap on a guy who's claim to fame was a fantasy film that blatantly rips of Oshii and Miyazaki imagery, but we don't have much to inspire faith. Yet. By far the best news has been that Beat Kitano will be playing Aramaki, which is amazing... and I really, really like Michael Pitt, but the rumor of exactly who he's playing leave me doubtful this will be anything but a shiny, multicultural, source material burning train wreck.

I'd love to be wrong and the movie be, if nothing else, decent. But lately I've had really bad luck getting hopeful about stuff. Seems way safer to assume everything is horrendous until proven otherwise.


*Technically, yes, Oldboy is only a manga. My point stands, though.

 

[Jux]

Thor: Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard, Colm Feore (he was a name once), Ray Stevenson, Idris Elba and Anthony Hopkins.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes: James Franco (who was an established actor by that point no matter what you have to say on the matter), John Lithgow, Brian Cox, Tom Felton and Andy Serkis.

Captain America: Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Dominic Cooper, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke and Stanley Tucci (and even Chris Evans is debatable given he was already a blockbuster star by that point).

The Help: Bryce Dallas Howard, Viola Davis (it was a middle budget movie targeting the niche she was known in for her other smaller lead roles), Allison Janney and yes, Emma Stone (who's breakout role had been Zombieland).

I'm going to stop here because you get the point. That's the thing about Hollywood movies, they don't tend to have one single lead despite the title. It's the exception, not the rule, that has a single person who is the star of the show, with it almost always being 3-8 people who have that role (usually closer to 3), and unless the entire point of the movie in question is to be a union of a bunch of big name actors where the story is secondary to them all being in one film, that group always has a mix of star power and rising talent (half to get new talent, half because said new talent is cheap compared to name actors) as well as making it easier to get as many seats in the theatre as possible because, given how some actors will get people in seats by virtue of being in a movie (because star power is still a thing and if anything the change in how cinema works in the internet age has only made that more, not less, true) it it gets to the point where having only 2-3% of the largest movies not having star power behind them becomes pretty obvious as to why that is.

None of those people were driving the show, it's farsical to say that Tommy Lee Jones drove anyone to see Captain America, which is the exact argument you're making when you say that stars are needed to bring people into the theater. The same can be said for the rest. Sorry, but you fail here.

 

[Jux]

- Children, young and old, who want to watch robots transform into stuff.

I asked the successful head of marketing at a major studio if he needed a star to market a movie and he responded, ?People pay money for concepts. Having a star doesn?t matter. ... [http://www.vulture.com/2012/07/why-stars-dont-matter-gavin-polone.html]

Go on, tell me more. Calling Optimus Prime 'the star' that drives people to see transformers is like saying Major Kusanagi is the star that drives people to see GITS. It says nothing about the person voicing, or acting, the character.

 

[Sonmi]

- Children, young and old, who want to watch robots transform into stuff.

I asked the successful head of marketing at a major studio if he needed a star to market a movie and he responded, ?People pay money for concepts. Having a star doesn?t matter. ... [http://www.vulture.com/2012/07/why-stars-dont-matter-gavin-polone.html]

Go on, tell me more. Calling Optimus Prime 'the star' that drives people to see transformers is like saying Major Kusanagi is the star that drives people to see GITS. It says nothing about the person voicing, or acting, the character.

It means that the movie doesn't necessarily need extra star power to lure people to the movies though. Just as it was with the new Star Wars, they can afford to cast new talent without worrying about it hurting the profitability of the movie too much, the name of the brand alone is enough to get people to go see the movie.

Ghost in the Shell doesn't have the same kind of brand recognition, and therefore casting a lesser-known actor/actress as lead might seriously hurt its profitability unless you have a strong supporting cast to lure in audiences.