Deep impact: the implosion of the film industry

The two Hollywood masters that are Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have predicted an implosion in the film industry that will see ticket prices sky rocket.

Taking the helm at the opening of a new media centre at the prestigious USC, the two greats spoke of the impact of the quick succession failing of movies made at a $250m budget led to a major change in studio dynamics. This resulted in audiences paying just $7 (£4.50) for the likes of Spielberg’s own ‘Lincoln’ compared to a staggering $25 (£15) for films such as ‘Iron Man 3’.

Spielberg warned students that in this present climate, it was somewhat of a gargantuan struggle for even the most established of film makers to get their pictures shown in the cinemas. ‘Lincoln’ itself missed out marginally by being released as a television film broadcast on the American pay-TV network, HBO.  Spielberg argued new directors are considered too risky for Hollywood whatever in spite of how talented they might be.

“That’s the big danger, and there’s eventually going to be an implosion – or a big meltdown,” Spielberg explained. “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 too echoed his concern having had trouble getting his war drama ‘Red Tails’ into cinemas last year. “We’re talking Lincoln and Red Tails – we barely got them into theatres,” he revealed. “You’re talking about Steven Spielberg and George Lucas can’t get their movie into a theatre!”

This revelation is somewhat disturbing, but we remain hopeful in the fact that Hollywood is not the same as the world and how distribution works on a global scale differs enormously. In the meantime, we hope Spielberg and Lucas films make the cinemas, because what would the cinematic landscape be without them.

Here in Britain cinema ticket prices remain relatively stable. We hope they don’t jump too much, especially with the imminent release of ‘Trap For Cinderella’ out on July 12^th.