At the world premiere of Ghost’s debut film, ‘Rite Here Rite Now,’ on June 18, frontman Tobias Forge spoke to The Upcoming about his hopes and expectations for the movie. He also revealed a few things that might ‘disgust’ some fans. He explained:
“I hope that people are happy with what they’re seeing and not perplexed or disgusted. There are elements in this film that might come off as, I guess, unorthodox if you’re super traditional. And I’m not making that as traditional as in 50 years ago or 60 years ago, like old school that way. I really set out to make like an unreal fictional live concert film that was gonna be unlike anything else you’ve ever seen. That doesn’t mean that it’s better than anything you’ve ever seen, but it is not gonna be reminiscent of exactly something else that you’ve seen previously before seeing this, and I think I’ve done that. But that is one thing.”
In addition to this, the frontman has one thing he hopes people will say about the movie:
“Another thing is to see… Obviously, people are excited, but we just know that people are excited about seeing the film that they still have not seen. So, right now I just want all these people who have believed in the film coming out [of the theaters] and saying, ‘It was better than I thought.’ That would be amazing.”
‘Rite Here Rite Now’ Achieved Success
Ghost’s film ‘Rite Here Rite Now’ achieved success and earned $5.04 million from limited screenings. It landed in the top 10 at Number 9 worldwide. It was shown in over 1,800 cinemas across 49 countries and includes new concert footage and a continuation of the band’s ‘Chapters’ storyline. The film made $2.65 million in North America and had strong showings in other regions. It earned $606,000 in the U.K. and Ireland, $332,000 in Germany, $326,000 in Mexico, and $178,000 in Australia.
The Process Was Draining
Ghost announced their debut film in October last year. It premiered in cinemas on June 20, and Forge appeared at the world premiere two days earlier. In an interview with Rock Sound, Forge talked about the challenges of being a filmmaker and said it was a draining process:
“As any semi-gargantuan task, as fun as it is, it’s also draining. I’m used to working towards deadlines, but filmmaking is definitely a lot… You can release records into the society and people will buy it or not, whereas tickets you have to sell too, but cinemas are a little bit like venues. So you can’t just release a film or move it like a week. If you don’t deliver on time, it would be delayed, like, months. So we’ve been sort of zoning in on this date, basically today, for the last nine months.”
During their two-night shows at the Forum in Inglewood, California, the band banned phones and instead had a professional camera crew film everything. Shortly after these concerts, Forge confirmed rumors that Ghost was working on a movie. In another interview, he mentioned they were putting together a film that would include footage from these California shows ‘mixed with something else.’
Watch the interview below.