Super Bowl commercials: Scarlett Johansson’s ‘Ghost in the Shell’ ad goes for visuals
If you’re going to be advertising a movie during the Super Bowl, odds are that you are going to have a mountain of confidence in how much money it’s going to air.
Yet, at the same time, we’d argue that “Ghost in the Shell” (which hits theaters next month) is far from a guaranteed sure thing. After all, this adaptation of the Japanese manga, which has already encompassed TV, movies, and a variety of other mediums all over the world, is not necessarily a home-run franchise in America. This is probably why there’s such a known actress in the lead role in Scarlett Johansson. It will be interesting to see what sort of impact the commercial tonight in the big game has at all.
What worked – The ad is visually arrested, and given that it is only 30 seconds long, it was almost surely the right decision to focus on the action and the arresting visual style more so than the story here. You’ve got to know your audience, so Super Bowl viewers probably appreciated the effects more than they would anything else. Also, you’ve got Johansson at the center of everything so that she is never lost in the shuffle.
What didn’t – This is still a movie that will not be that appealing to everyone out there, and there’s been criticism of the casting, as well. We’re not sure what could’ve been done better in terms of the teaser itself, mostly because the studio is showing off here precisely what they should be in the amount of time that they have.
Overall – When you’re doing commercials for movies at the Super Bowl, the #1 thing that you are really hoping for is just that you figure out a way to get people to watch the whole thing and look more information up on it later while you’re watching the game. We do think that “Ghost in the Shell” does that every bit as well as you could possibly hope for them to. It’s engaging, and it makes the most of its time. Grade: A-.
What did you think of the ad? Share now in the comments, and head over here to get some other commercials from the big game! (Photo: King’s Hawaiian.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY1VPlyaTNk
