Steven Spielberg Predicts "Implosion" Of Film Industry

The Hollywood Reporter ^ | June 13, 2013 | Paul Bond

[Biggirl]

Steven Spielberg on Wednesday predicted an "implosion" in the film industry is inevitable, whereby a half dozen or so $250 million movies flop at the box office and alter the industry forever. What comes next -- or even before then -- will be price variances at movie theaters, where "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 also said that Lincoln came "this close" to being an HBO movie instead of a theatrical release.

[knarf]

No, Speilburg is reading some very clear and obtuse writing on the wall.

[redgolum]

At $25 a pop, people will wait for it to be on BluRay.

Or not go.

[knarf]

somehow my tag keeps getting changed

[Diogenesis]

Speilberg and his associates aided the coup d’etat
against the American people and their allies.

[drbuzzard]

Especially given the size of new TVs, the elaborate sound systems, and that a family can watch that BluRay for $25, while the movie is $100+.

[IamConservative]

I’ve thought for a long time that true entrepreneurs would break the grip Hollywood has on entertainment and enter this market and give us much better product at a lower price.

Dinosaurs always die.

[NH Red]

Or most likely get a pirated copy.

[Biggirl]

.....Or regular DVD.

[drbuzzard]

Heck, that takes it down to $15-

[AlexW]

I would not pay anything to see a movie today.
I get several movie channels via my satellite service, but they are mostly garbage with little more then mass killing and explosions.
What was the last movie with the class of “Gone With the Wind”?

[Gen.Blather]

Making a traditional movie is following a big business socialist model and that’s why it’s expensive. The unions demand outrageous pay for jobs no more complicated or involved than moving scenery or running wires. The writer’s guild has a hammerlock on screenplays and the cost of those is through the roof. The cost of everything else is scaled to the big expense drivers. “What, you’re making a 250 million movie? Well, the cost of shooting in our city is 30 million.” (When it could be done for the cost of shutting down a street or two on a Saturday morning.) Then there’s the tax structure and the depreciation schedules. Read the credits that run for 20 minutes, “second grip assistant to the first grip, John Smith.”

How is it that really good movies can be made for chicken scratch so long as they’re outside of the studio system? Take “Army of the Dead.” No name actors and shot for almost nothing. Then when the same guys start making money and enter the system the quality of the film footage goes up but the story gets politically corrected, focus-grouped, test-audience-d, and watered down so it won’t offend anybody.

Films can be made for much less. But first the current system must be allowed to fail.

[McGavin999]

They don't even do that anymore. It's just the same plots over and over and then in most cases there is no plot. There is just sex, explosions, blood and death.

There is still a lot of talent in Hollywood, they are just never given a chance.

There needs to be some place where people can make entertaining movies......with a plot.....and talented actors.

[Norm Lenhart]

Music biz is the same. Some of the best and most innovative music today is by one or two man shops with a laptop and a copy of Guitar rig/Pro tools.

The big studios are closing or being sold off ala newspapers. The industry refuses to adapt to current realities and is / has been imploding.

[texas booster]

Don't get a pirated copy, that would be wrong and illegal.

Call your friends at NSA and get a gov’t copy ...

Most movies are now sent by studios to theaters by encrypted links.

[Arm_Bears]

. . . so it won’t offend anybody.

It's still OK to offend Christians and conservatives. In fact, they go out of their way to do so.

[knarf]

Shortly after I got my first computer, I got into a "What was it like back then" phase of rock n' roll stars and recordings.

One of the more fascinating aspects about music of the fiftie's and early sixties was the techniques used to produce some familiar sounds we remember today.

A lot of Elvis (f'rinstance) recorded in a hallway in a little studio on a hot summer day in Memphis ... to produce that echo effect

[djf]

Avg used DVD on Amazon is probably about 2.50, with 2.99 shipping.

Then you can watch it when you want - watch it as many times as you want - give it away if you want

Whatever.

And movies now hit the DVD rack just a couple weeks after release.

I haven’t been to a theatre for probably 12 years.

[Drawsing]

the quality of the film footage goes up but the story gets politically corrected, focus-grouped, test-audience-d, and watered down so it won’t offend anybody.

Not offend anybody? They forgot to check with me. Apparently part of the political correction process is to make sure it has the requisite amount of profanity and illicit sexual encounters.

[ClaytonP]

Films can be made for much less. But first the current system must be allowed to fail.

Why hasn't the internet come up with a business model for selling these films?

Look at the ebook industry where authors are becoming rich and famous for selling their 99c novels on amazon.