Reports indicate that Scarlett Johansson's new movie Ghost in the Shell is now on track to lose $60 million, thanks to a dismal opening day performance that pulled in a meager $18.6 million for a bloated $110 million budget. 

How could a movie with robust source material and a supposedly bankable star tank so badly? Aside from the dismal response from critics, Ghost in the Shell suffered a death by a thousand cuts, starting all the way back with the casting of Johansson into the title role of "Major." Given the Asian source material, many fans took this yet another sign of studio "whitewashing." Though the merits of that accusation remain up for debate, social justice warrior outrage over that issue soured interest in the film before it could even get off to the races.  

Then there's the problem of the film's $110 million price tag, which many experts have labeled much too high for such a niche film. “This is the amount of money you spend on a sequel, not an obscure piece of IP that only a few fanboys know about! Maybe you spend $35M or $40M on this and make a stylized art house film,” one film financier told Deadline.

It may not have helped that Johansson has heavily politicized herself in the public arena recently as an activist for abortion and radical feminism.

This movie bomb takes Johansson squarely out of A-list territory, since real movie stardom requires that an actor or actress be able to fill theaters on his or her name alone. Like George Clooney, Sean Penn (whom Johansson dated), Amy Schumer, and other performers whose political personae are overshadowing their entertainer personae, Johansson's box office power is suffering for it.

Wise up, Hollywood.