Editorial: What Ghost in the Shell/Death Note Could Spell for Hollywood

 

When the general public thinks of anime, they think of blue haired teenage girls, talking cats, massive sex-appeal and fan service, and giant swords wielded by men with spikey and unimaginably vivid hair.
With Dreamworks set on releasing the Scarlett Johanson-lead, Rupert Sanders-helmed  Ghost in the Shell for April 2017, and the recent news of Adam Wingard signing on to finally bring the long gestating Death Note to life, things could potentially be changing for the comic-book movie dominated landscape of Hollywood. 

To state that anime has had a rough-spot landing landing in megaplexes  is an understatement. Looking back at the critically panned disaster that was 2007's Dragonball: Evolution to both ASTRO BOY and Speed Racer it's clear to see none of these launched a significant franchise, or even made a mark on Hollywood history. Despite the latter being as close to a live-action animation as possible, Speed Racer only mustered up about $93 million worldwide off a large investment of $120 million from Warner Brothers. 
Most recently, Tom Cruise starred in Edge of Tomorrow which opened to rave reviews, yet only made 27% of it's budget back stateside. 

Other notable projects that never made it were Neon Genesis Evangelion, one of the most critically praised corner-stones of anime itself, and AKIRA. Evangelion first hit the news in 2003, and then later some gorgeous concept art from WETA Studios (Fresh off of Lord of the Rings) surfaced showing some fairly dramatic name changes from the source material. Obviously something like Evangelion which involves the brutal murder and blood-bath of "angels" against human-mechanical constructs set against some intricate Christian symbolism would be a tough sell anyway.
AKIRA is another WB project that, despite several attempted launches, never made it off the ground. The closest it got was in roughly 2012; but WB still has those rights.

Recently, Sony has also dipped their toes in the water and nabbed ROBOTECH from Warner Brothers with  Gianni Nunnari and The Immortals' Mark Canton producing and screenwriter Michael Gordon writing the script.
 

So what has changed? Or rather- what will change?
Like the current landscape of big-budget release, which are currently young adult and cape-driven affairs, it took some time to perfect. Sure there were the X-Men, Spiderman, and Batman and Superman franchises (which all took very deep quality dips depending on who you ask); but there was also things like Catwoman, Ghost Rider, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, and many other pitfalls that some studios (and actors) would soon like to forget. It wasn't until The Dark Knight and Iron Man's one-two punch in the summer of 2008 re-ignited the superhero phenomena. 
That same fact could very well find it's way to anime, with Death Note likely to hit screens sometime in 2017-18 assuming everything goes according to plan, and be out with Ghost in the Shell, which brings the WB/Disney battle to a new media. 

One key thing that there is to consider in this bold new climate is the fanboys, and general audiences, willingness to accept new and foreign concepts. Looking at the giant-robot smash-a-thon Pacific Rim which eventually became a decent money maker at $400 million and was heavily dipped in "anime culture", or even Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy which of course became a major hit at almost $800 million, and involved a talking tree, a talking raccoon, a green alien woman, and a tattooed space criminal fighting against a giant purple space-Hitler. 

Also in the past these films had moved as far away from their Japanese roots as possible it seemed; but with things like Big Hero 6 and The Wolverine, it would seem maybe turning Japanese might not be such a wild idea, not to mention the anime-infused Saturday night block that makes Cartoon Network's Adult Swim trend on a weekly basis across social networks. With the "nerd culture" becoming a socially accepted norm in society, it of course wouldn't be too long before anime followed the same cultural notes super-heroes and videogames have, especially with Attack on Titan, Deadman Wonderland, and many more. 
A recent report from March of this year even showed that manga sales in the United States have conctinued to rise, compiled by Anime News Network:

ICv2 is estimating continued growth in manga sales based on statements from Viz Media senior director of sales and marketing Kevin Hamric and an overall 17.7% growth in comic sales.

[...]

Overall, the company's top selling series for 2014 were Naruto,Pokémon, One Piece, Bleach, Death Note, Blue Exorcist,Dragon Ball, All You Need Is Kill, Fullmetal Alchemist, andStudio Ghibli books.

It will, eventually, all come down to what people want to see, and judging by Scarlett Johanson's sudden rise as an action starlet with 2014's LUCY, a sexually-infused cyber-thriller with her headlining probably would be a safe bet for success. Death Note many years ago would have been a stranger sell, with it's almost maniacal protagonist wielding a demon-infused notebook; but if there's one thing that Dexter, Hannibal, Bates Motel, and Loki from The Avengers have taught us, as well as the similar character of Sherlock on the BBC, it's that people do love a psychopath. 

So once again, it's down to the wire. Warner Brothers certainy will have the bigger guns behind them, and more mature franchise pedigree (Lord of the Rings, DC Comics, Harry Potter); but it's hard to underestimnate Disney's ability to sell anything. 
If Death Note and Ghost in the Shell become runaway hits, would WB finally move on AKIRA? Would the interested in Evangelion come back? Could a network like HBO, which already has it's own manga-drama MONSTER inproduction, pick up something like Full Metal Alchemist? It could be a bold new world.

Only time will tell though...