TODAY’S FAKE OUTRAGE: Misogynists are angry a woman stars in the next Terminator movie.

They were so angry in 1993 at a woman starring in Terminator 2 that the film grossed $315,000,000 around the world. But that film has an 8.5 rating at IMDB, and four sequels, one TV series, and Skynet-only knows how many video games and other spinoffs later, perhaps that’s the reason why, like “Lady Ghostbusters,” and the Disney Star Wars reboot, its studio has created a cynical way to manipulate potential audiences and/or excuse away a potential box office bust. In 2006, before Twitter existed and Facebook was just getting started, Mark Steyn noted that “The more artful leftie websites have taken to complaining that the religious right deliberately killed [Brokeback Mountain] at the box-office by declining to get mad about it.”

Today, with the virus-like nature of social media, studios can more directly manipulate potential audiences. But there’s only so many times the stunt can work before ticket buyers realize how they’re being played.