Steven Spielberg predicted film industry “meltdown” a decade ago
A decade ago, beloved filmmaker Steven Spielberg predicted that a run of failing blockbusters would lead to an “implosion” or “meltdown” in the film industry.
The director spoke at the University of Southern California in the summer of 2013, at the opening of a new media centre. Star Wars creator George Lucas also made an appearance at the event. The two spoke about how failing blockbusters could cause the fluctuation of cinema ticket prices and eventually lead to an “implosion”.
As quoted in The Hollywood Reporter, Spielberg suggested that ticket prices would differ between films: “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 Lincoln was nearly released as an HBO film rather than in cinemas.
Lucas suggested that more adventures ventures on screen were increasingly turning to television: “I think eventually the Lincolns will go away and they’re going to be on television.” He continued to note the inaccessibility of theatrical releases, “We’re talking about Lincoln and Red Tails – we barely got them into theatres. You’re talking about Steven Spielberg and George Lucas can’t get their movie into a theatre.”
Lucas further explained the changes to the film industry, which included fewer films, shown in cinemas for less time, with higher ticket prices.
Spielberg stated that ideas from filmmakers early into their careers can be “too fringe-y for the movies.” He concluded, “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.”
Since then, Spielberg has retracted his comments. He clarified his earlier statement in USA Today, stating, “I didn’t ever predict the implosion of the film industry at all.”
He continued, “I simply predicted that 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.”
Spielberg explained that he didn’t believe the superhero genre has the “legs or the longevity” of the western, and noted 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.”
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