George Lucas: "The Blockbuster Is Dead"

[Pirate]

Movie mogul George Lucas predicts Hollywood will soon start shifting away from mega-budget blockbusters in favor of making more independent films for less money. Alongside Steven Spielberg, Star Wars creator Lucas is cited as being chiefly responsible for the blockbuster phenomenon that has gripped the movie industry for the last three decades. But he now believes big-budget films can no longer be profitable and are going out of fashion, as evidenced by this year's Academy Award nominees, including independent movies Crash and Good Night, And Good Luck. Lucas tells the New York Daily News, "The market forces that exist today make it unrealistic to spend $200 million on a movie. Those movies can't make their money back anymore. Look at what happened with King Kong. I think it's great that the major Oscar nominations have gone to independent films. Is that good for the business? No - it's bad for the business. But movie-making isn't about business. It's about art. In the future, almost everything that gets shown in theaters will be indie movies. I predict that by 2025 the average movie will cost only $15 million."

-PH

P.S. Mods, you might want to move this to film discussion. I wasn't really sure where to put it.

[Istagi]

Ok Lucas you are a moron. sorry, here is your sign.

People want quality entertainment, with a good story. You blew it Lucas, but LOTR, Harry Potter, Narnia certianly did not flop.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by Istagi

People want quality entertainment, with a good story. You blew it Lucas, but LOTR, Harry Potter, Narnia certianly did not flop.

What about King Kong? Is that considered a flop?

Is it really quality people are after or cheaper theater ticket prices?

Peace...

[elwood731]

Originally Posted by tomdkat

What about King Kong? Is that considered a flop?

Is it really quality people are after or cheaper theater ticket prices?

Peace...

It didn't flop. It made its budget back in the USA. Add in overseas, DVDs, cable, and you have quite a big profit is my guess.

[Istagi]

Originally Posted by tomdkat

What about King Kong? Is that considered a flop?

Is it really quality people are after or cheaper theater ticket prices?

Peace...

I do not think that king kong made the money they were thinking it would.

anyway, cheaper ticket prices, and better movies will always win out over special effects.

I liked King Kong but it was not nearly as good as LOTR, it just did not "catch" me and I have heard lots of others say the same.

[AnonomusBob15]

I agree about the "good entertainment" thing.

I am glad independent movies are making their way back. Early 2004 sucked in terms of quality movies, which cuts back on my DVD spending, but I am happy that better movies are being released.

I just hope that not all of them are biopics or true events.

[Reaver]

I do think that people are starting to get weary of spectacle films. They used to be rare, but then suddenly in the mid 90's they started to come out more and more to the point to where now you can barely throw a stick in a cineplex without hitting half a dozen of them. I wish we could go back to when blockbusters came out once a year or so. Maybe then they will mean something again.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by Istagi

I liked King Kong but it was not nearly as good as LOTR, it just did not "catch" me and I have heard lots of others say the same.

I haven't seen Kong, but I've heard the same kinds of comments as you just made.

EDIT: Nevermind.

Peace...

[Keith]

Hollywood will never stop spending money, it's what they do. They are like a heroin addict chasing the dragon, the dragon being Titanic, LOTR, etc.

Originally posted by Reaver

I do think that people are starting to get weary of spectacle films. They used to be rare, but then suddenly in the mid 90's they started to come out more and more to the point to where now you can barely throw a stick in a cineplex without hitting half a dozen of them.

I agree, and I think it is a byproduct of CGI. That tool makes spectacle more convenient for film makers. I'm not bashing CGI, some of it amazing. Just my opinion on why so many "big" movies are in theaters nowadays.

[SeanL]

Lucas' comments remind me of Disney's actions regarding their traditional animation department...canning it because "people don't want to see traditional, hand drawn animation".
Give people a good story/characters and they will flock to it, whether it costs $5 million to make, or $250 million to make.

[Efstar]

He is right to some degree, every single summer now we all complain about seeing the same stupid big blockbusters, and dumbass remakes. Why else would movie like the Island, and Stealth tank at the box office. We all will complain, but the big movie studios only care about making money, therefore the trend will more than likely continue. As long as we see some quality films each year, that is all that matters.

[plissken99]

If anything, Blockbusters will go into hybernation. Everything in Hollywood goes in cycles, it may be 2010 or 2015 when they come back, but they will.

Personally I think this box office drought is being caused by high ticket prices, and 10 minutes of commericals on top of 20 minutes of movie previews. On top of that, DVD and HD are getting popular, as are larger display devices and surround sound. Until around 2001, I went to see 2-3 movies a weekend, no joke. Here it is, March of 2006, and I haven't set foot in a cinema. There are plenty of movies I want to see, but none are worth the headache of putting up with the usual crowd complaints and techical flaws of the presentation, I can wait for DVD. The last movie i saw theatrically was Serenity, and that sucked as they had the volume so low, I could barely hear some of the dialog.

I remember when going to the theater was like going to a theme park, it was relatively clean, tickets were $3 a person, and even the smaller cinemas had excellent sound and PQ. Now I'm paying $5 a ticket(I go early), to go to the 'nicest' theater around, sure they have a cool lobby, but the projectionist can't keep the image in focus and centered on the screen, and the volume is either whisper quiet, or loud enough to make your fillings hurt. The best is when the commericals are that loud, and the previews and movie are whisper quiet.

It's not the quality of the movies, it's the quality of the venues/pricing. I can't wait to see this Summers blockbusters, I'll eat them up, but I may see them in October or November when they come out on DVD.

[Scourge]

Originally Posted by plissken99

Personally I think this box office drought is being caused by high ticket prices, and 10 minutes of commericals on top of 20 minutes of movie previews. On top of that, DVD and HD are getting popular, as are larger display devices and surround sound. Until around 2001, I went to see 2-3 movies a weekend, no joke. Here it is, March of 2006, and I haven't set foot in a cinema. There are plenty of movies I want to see, but none are worth the headache of putting up with the usual crowd complaints and techical flaws of the presentation, I can wait for DVD. The last movie i saw theatrically was Serenity, and that sucked as they had the volume so low, I could barely hear some of the dialog.

I remember when going to the theater was like going to a theme park, it was relatively clean, tickets were $3 a person, and even the smaller cinemas had excellent sound and PQ. Now I'm paying $5 a ticket(I go early), to go to the 'nicest' theater around, sure they have a cool lobby, but the projectionist can't keep the image in focus and centered on the screen, and the volume is either whisper quiet, or loud enough to make your fillings hurt. The best is when the commericals are that loud, and the previews and movie are whisper quiet.

I totally agree with this statement. I can't tell you how disgusted I feel to have to pay an outrageous ticket price to go sit in a dark room that smells of pickles and is filled with chattering teenagers cracking jokes with their friends and talking on their cell phones so I can sit through television commericials that I would try to avoid at home but am trapped into viewing in the theater and then see when the movie starts that in many cases the projector bulb is dim, the framing is wildly off, the sound is either too loud or not loud enough and the print is nowhere near as clean as we would want it to be when it hits dvd. Don't studios own theater chains? They really need to get these problems straightened out, because the experience of movie going these days is rather dreadful and I've skipped many movies I'd like to see on the big screen because of this.