Steven Spielberg predicted an “implosion” in the film industry 10 years ago
Steven Spielberg predicted an “implosion” in the Hollywood film industry 10 years ago, whereby he warned of ticket price fluctuation as a result of failing blockbuster films.
Speaking at the opening of a new media centre at the University of Southern California alongside George Lucas back in June 2013, the directors envisioned a world in which the failure of half a dozen $250million (£190million) movies could result in a dramatic ticket price variances.
Spielberg told USC students (via Hollywood Reporter) that price increases could mean “you’re gonna have to pay $25 for the next Iron Man, you’re probably only going to have to pay $7 to see Lincoln”.
He added that students were trying to enter the industry at a time when event more established directors struggled with getting commercial releases into cinemas, saying his Oscar-winning 2013 film Lincoln came “this close” to premiering on HBO instead of a theatrical release.
The Jaws director went on to say that some ideas from younger filmmakers are “too fringe-y for the movies”.
He said: “That’s the big danger, and there’s eventually going to be an implosion – or a big meltdown. There’s going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen megabudget movies are going to go crashing into the ground, and that’s going to change the paradigm.”
Lucas agreed that the “pathway to get into theatres is really getting smaller and smaller”.
However, in 2015 Spielberg denied making comments about an “implosion” in the Hollywood film industry.
“To clarify, I didn’t ever predict the implosion of the film industry at all,” he said during a press conference for Bridge Of Spies, as reported by USA Today.
“I simply predicted that [with] a number of blockbusters in one summer – those big sort of tentpole superhero movies – there was going to come a time where two or three or four of them in a row didn’t work. That’s really all I said. I didn’t say the film industry was ever going to end because of them.
He went on to suggest he was “simply saying that that particular [superhero] genre doesn’t have the legs or the longevity of the western, which was around since the beginning of film, and only started to wither and shrivel in the 60s.”
The Indiana Jones director added that he was “also trying to make a point that there was room for every kind of movie today, because there seems to be an audience for everything.”
Elsewhere, Spielberg recently shared his reaction after seeing Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny for the first time.
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Hollie Geraghty
NME
